extraordinary fast-moving star

[nec208]

<br />An extraordinary fast-moving star with a comet-like tail could be sowing the seeds of life on distant worlds.<br /><br /><br />The star, named Mira after the Latin word for "wonderful", is streaking through space at supersonic speed leaving a trail of gas and dust in its wake 13 light years long.<br /><br />Astronomers have only now succeeded in capturing images of Mira's tail, which glows brightly with ultraviolet light. They say Mira offers a unique opportunity to study how dying stars play a key role in the formation of new stars, planets and possibly the birth of life.<br /><br />The tail is shedding carbon, oxygen and other important elements that in time will scatter across the cosmos. One day they might provide building blocks for a new solar system, perhaps containing an Earth-like planet supporting life.<br /><br />The orbiting US space telescope Galaxy Evolution Explorer, which is sensitive to ultraviolet light, scanned Mira during an on-going survey of galaxies. <br /><br />Principal investigator Dr Christopher Martin, from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, said: "I was shocked when I first saw this completely unexpected, humongous tail trailing behind a well-known star."<br /><br />Mira is a "red giant", a star once similar to the Sun but billions of years older and in the process of dying. As they burn up their nuclear fuel and start churning out heavier elements, red giants swell up to enormous size. <br /><br />Eventually they eject most of their remaining material into space, forming a colourful shell of gas and dust called a planetary nebula. The nebula gradually fades, leaving nothing but the burned-out core of the original star, which becomes a white dwarf.<br /><br />As it orbits the Milky Way galaxy, Mira travels at 291,000 miles per hour - more than 100 times the speed of a high velocity bullet. Racing along with it is a small distant companion, thought to be a white dwarf. The pair are flying through space together in the constellation C <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[nec208]

If some one has a picture of it you may want to post it here.<br /><br />sorry I don't know where to even get a picture of it may be NASA? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[telfrow]

Duplicate thread. <br /><br />Please see Speeding-Bullet Star Mira Leaves Enormous Streak Across Sky in this forum. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

Another duplicate thread. You should really look at what has been posted in the forum before you start a new thread.<br /><br />See the Mira thread a few subjects away. <br /><br />Edit The pictures are posted there. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>