“Wonderful” star, indeed

Excuse me while I drool over the wondrous images from NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer of this “faster than a speeding bullet” star, Mira. As reported by the BBC. It’s a binary star with a smaller orbiting companion and was first recorded in 1596 but the tail is only revealed by imaging in the ultra-violet part of the electro-magnetic spectrum. NASA have also put together an amazing animation – Quicktime video 6 Mb or Hi-Res QT video here 74 Mb. In an attempt to bring some perspective to this, that stream of stellar material is 13 light-years-long.. which is less than half almost two thirds the distance between the Earth and the most recently discovered exo-planet with water.. Adds Lo-Res version on YouTube.

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