Speeding-Bullet Star Mira Leaves Enormous Streak Across Sky

[Smersh]

<font color="yellow">MEDIA ADVISORY: 07-102<br /><br />NASA to Hold Media Teleconference on Bizarre Star<br /><br />WASHINGTON -- Astronomers are scheduled to announce new findings about a star unlike any seen before at a media teleconference Wednesday, Aug. 15, at 1 p.m. EDT. The findings are from NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer, managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.<br /><br />The briefing participants are:<br />- Christopher Martin, principal investigator of the Galaxy Evolution Explorer, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif.<br />- Mark Seibert, astronomer, Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Pasadena, Calif.<br />- Michael Shara, curator at the American Museum of Natural History and professor of astronomy at Columbia University, both in New York</font><br /><br />Full details here<br /><br />So we'll find out what this is all about tomorrow then, or even today depending where you're reading this from ... <br /><br />(Edited thread title) <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <h1 style="margin:0pt;font-size:12px">----------------------------------------------------- </h1><p><font color="#800000"><em>Lady Nancy Astor: "Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea."<br />Churchill: "Nancy, if you were my wife, I'd drink it."</em></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Website / forums </strong></font></p> </div>

 

[Smersh]

Incidentally, if this thread would be better in SS & A please move it, thanks. I posted it here as it's part of the Galaxy Evolution Explorer mission. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <h1 style="margin:0pt;font-size:12px">----------------------------------------------------- </h1><p><font color="#800000"><em>Lady Nancy Astor: "Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea."<br />Churchill: "Nancy, if you were my wife, I'd drink it."</em></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Website / forums </strong></font></p> </div>

 

[henryhallam]

Perhaps it is an OnOff star?

 

[Smersh]

The mind boggles as to what it may be! (Who do NASA think they are anyway, hyping up their announcement like this? Hollywood or something? <img src="/images/icons/rolleyes.gif" /> )<br /><br />Anyway, the announcement is at 1pm EDT which is 2 and a half hours from now. The audio of the announcement will be here: http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/news_audio.html<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <h1 style="margin:0pt;font-size:12px">----------------------------------------------------- </h1><p><font color="#800000"><em>Lady Nancy Astor: "Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea."<br />Churchill: "Nancy, if you were my wife, I'd drink it."</em></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Website / forums </strong></font></p> </div>

 

[henryhallam]

Unfortunately I have to move house from Cambridge, UK to Cambridge, MA this afternoon. Any chance you could give us a brief summary of what they say at the conference?<br /><br />Thanks <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" />

 

[grdja]

Most certain something insignificant, but most likeky it got some NASA astrophysicist all hyped, so they never though about does public consider it significant.<br /><br />Why am i so negative? Because whenever i hear something like this, first though to cross my mind is that they finally found something... A suspected Dyson sphere, or a star which composition or behavior was obviously artificially modified, something like that...<br /><br />And as from all such announcements, we'll get to hear that xyz type neutrinos transfer to wasd type neutrinos 0.5% more than predicted by theory.

 

[spacefire]

hmm...yeah just when you get your hopes up that they found life or something like that.... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>http://asteroid-invasion.blogspot.com</p><p>http://www.solvengineer.com/asteroid-invasion.html </p><p> </p> </div>

 

[Smersh]

henryhallam<br /><font color="yellow">Unfortunately I have to move house from Cambridge, UK to Cambridge, MA this afternoon. Any chance you could give us a brief summary of what they say at the conference?</font><br /><br />Sure! I intend listening in and I would think NASA will post a report on their site so I'll post whatever I find. <br /><br />Moving from one Cambridge to another! <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />grdja<br /><font color="yellow">And as from all such announcements, we'll get to hear that xyz type neutrinos transfer to wasd type neutrinos 0.5% more than predicted by theory.</font><br /><br />Yes I'm worried it could be something like that too but well, we'll see. Only about 15 mins to go now ... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <h1 style="margin:0pt;font-size:12px">----------------------------------------------------- </h1><p><font color="#800000"><em>Lady Nancy Astor: "Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea."<br />Churchill: "Nancy, if you were my wife, I'd drink it."</em></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Website / forums </strong></font></p> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

The link is playing music. WTH??? <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>

 

[thereiwas]

It's about a star moving at pretty high velocity and leaving a swirling tail behind it. Not as dull as unusual neutrino decay, but no Dyson sphere either.

 

[Smersh]

The music has finished now.<br /><br />It's an announcement about Mira, the variable star in the constellation of Cetus. It has a streaming tail stretching for 13 light years. <br /><br />They are still talking.<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <h1 style="margin:0pt;font-size:12px">----------------------------------------------------- </h1><p><font color="#800000"><em>Lady Nancy Astor: "Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea."<br />Churchill: "Nancy, if you were my wife, I'd drink it."</em></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Website / forums </strong></font></p> </div>

 

[Smersh]

henryhallam<br /><font color="yellow">Perhaps it is an OnOff star? </font><br /><br />Sounds like you were spot on! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <h1 style="margin:0pt;font-size:12px">----------------------------------------------------- </h1><p><font color="#800000"><em>Lady Nancy Astor: "Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea."<br />Churchill: "Nancy, if you were my wife, I'd drink it."</em></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Website / forums </strong></font></p> </div>

 

[Smersh]

They are now taking questions from the press. The following report has just appeared on the NASA website:<br /><br /><font color="yellow">Speeding-Bullet Star Leaves Enormous Streak Across Sky<br /><br />NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer has spotted an amazingly long comet-like tail behind a star streaking through space at supersonic speeds. The star, named Mira after the Latin word for "wonderful," has been a favorite of astronomers for about 400 years. It is a fast-moving, older star called a red giant that sheds massive amounts of surface material.<br /><br />The space-based Galaxy Evolution Explorer scanned the popular star during its ongoing survey of the entire sky in ultraviolet light. Astronomers then noticed what looked like a comet with a gargantuan tail. In fact, material blowing off Mira is forming a wake 13 light-years long, or about 20,000 times the average distance of Pluto from the sun. Nothing like this has ever been seen before around a star.</font><br /><br />Full report, with links to graphics etc here:<br /><br />http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/galex/galex-20070815.html<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <h1 style="margin:0pt;font-size:12px">----------------------------------------------------- </h1><p><font color="#800000"><em>Lady Nancy Astor: "Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea."<br />Churchill: "Nancy, if you were my wife, I'd drink it."</em></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Website / forums </strong></font></p> </div>

 

[Smersh]

Press conference now over and I changed the thread title. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <h1 style="margin:0pt;font-size:12px">----------------------------------------------------- </h1><p><font color="#800000"><em>Lady Nancy Astor: "Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea."<br />Churchill: "Nancy, if you were my wife, I'd drink it."</em></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Website / forums </strong></font></p> </div>

 

[mithridates]

Yeah, it was moderately interesting, less so for the average person. I was hoping for something a bit more earth-shattering than that but anything that makes the universe a bit more interesting is always welcome.<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>----- </p><p>http://mithridates.blogspot.com</p> </div>

 

[Smersh]

(Reply to mithridates but due glitch cant reply direct)<br /><br />I've certainly never heard of a red giant variable star with a tail of matter stretching 13 light years and also moving at such a high velocity. (They DID say it was totally new.)<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <h1 style="margin:0pt;font-size:12px">----------------------------------------------------- </h1><p><font color="#800000"><em>Lady Nancy Astor: "Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea."<br />Churchill: "Nancy, if you were my wife, I'd drink it."</em></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Website / forums </strong></font></p> </div>

 

[robnissen]

Personally, I think this is phenemonally cool. Y'all can be jaded if you want, but I think this is an amazing story. A 13 LY tail, this may be the first example of perhaps one of the ways, maybe the MAJOR way that heavy elements get seeded throughout the galaxy. Short of 1) an announcement of current life on another planet, or 2) Angelina Jolie stating that her only goal in life is to be my love slave, I think this was a fabulous announcement.<br /><br />Here is the link to the SDC article BTW:<br /><br />http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/070815_star_tail.html

 

[Smersh]

Thanks for the link RobNissen. I think it's pretty cool too.<br /><br />From above space.com link:<br /><br /><font color="yellow">"If Neanderthal man had ultraviolet eyes and could look above the atmosphere, he could have seen the beginning of this tail forming," study leader Chris Martin, an astronomer at Caltech, said in a teleconference Wednesday.</font><br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <h1 style="margin:0pt;font-size:12px">----------------------------------------------------- </h1><p><font color="#800000"><em>Lady Nancy Astor: "Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea."<br />Churchill: "Nancy, if you were my wife, I'd drink it."</em></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Website / forums </strong></font></p> </div>

 

[3488]

Hi guys,<br /><br />You'll like these links. <img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /><br /><br />Very cool & interesting stuff.<br /><br />Mira.<br /><br />Mira again.<br /><br /> Mira / Omicron Ceti.<br /><br /> Mira / Omicron Ceti, again.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

Thanx for the links, Andrew.<br /><br />It was very hard to listen to the audio teleconference and not have access to the images. <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>

 

[3488]

You are very welcome MeteorWayne.<br /><br />What a fascinating find. I know Mira very well & have followed its variations<br />for quite some time.<br /><br />But fancy hiding this?? It was like Vega, an extremely well known star, known since<br />prehistory, but hid its protoplanetary disk until 1983!!!<br /><br />Makes you wonder what else very well known stars are hiding???????<br /><br />Below Mira system composite image from Hubble Space Telescope, Gemini & Keck AO.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[3488]

Schematic diagram of Mira system.<br /><br />CalTech.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[robnissen]

Here is a picture Hubble took in UV. Does anyone know why it didn't see more of the tail. (I assume this little hook is part of the tail.) BTW, I also find it interesting that the tail wasn't seen before because I believe Mira is one of only three stars (Mira, Betalgeuse, Sun) that has had its disk resolved. (If there are other stars that have had their disk resolved, please let me know.)

 

[3488]

Hi RobNissen.<br /><br />AFAIK, Antares & Arcturus have a while back & more recently Altair, Regulus & Vega.<br /><br />The list is growing.<br /><br />I assume that 'hook' is part of the outer layer of Mira, being drawn to the White Dwarf<br />companion, not part of the tail.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[mithridates]

Well, I hope I didn't appear too jaded but I'm always hoping for something that will fundamentally change the way in which the average person not interested in space perceives the universe, since there are so many more of them than there are of us. Anything that makes the universe a more fascinating place is of course welcome. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>----- </p><p>http://mithridates.blogspot.com</p> </div>