The Brightest Star Yet Known
Explanation:
Star light, star bright, a new brightest star has been discovered in the night.
This
new brightest star is so far away and so obscured by
dust, however, that it took the
Hubble Space Telescope to confirm it.
In 1990 a star named the
Pistol Star
was known to lie at the center of the
Pistol Nebula.
In 1995 it was suggested that the
Pistol Star was so massive it was throwing off the
mass that actually
created the
Pistol Nebula. Now, observations from the
Hubble Space Telescope
released today confirm the spectral relation
between the star and the nebula.
Dramatic implications include that the star emits
10 million times more light than our
Sun, and is about
100 times more massive. Astronomers are currently unsure how a star this
massive could have formed and how it will act in the future.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
