|
Credit & Copyright: Andrö Vilhena
Explanation:
Like a ship plowing through cosmic seas, runaway star
Alpha Camelopardalis
has produced this graceful arcing bow wave or bow shock.
The massive supergiant star moves at over 60
kilometers per second through space, compressing the
interstellar
material in its path.
At the center
of this nearly 6 degree wide view, Alpha Cam is about 25-30 times
as massive as the Sun, 5 times hotter (30,000 kelvins), and
over 500,000 times brighter.
About 4,000 light-years away in the long-necked constellation
Camelopardalis,
the star also produces a strong stellar wind.
Alpha Cam's bow shock stands off about 10 light-years from the star itself.
What set this
star in
motion?
Astronomers have long thought that Alpha Cam was flung out of
a nearby cluster of young hot stars due to gravitational interactions
with other cluster members or perhaps by the
supernova explosion of a massive companion star.
|
January February March April May June July August September October November December |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: bow shock - runaway star
Publications with words: bow shock - runaway star
See also: