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Thursday, October 25, 2007

Old Star, New Details: Mira in Ultraviolet

This star has been studied for about four centuries. You'd expect that just about everything to see has been seen. Then, an orbiting observatory that sees in ultraviolet took a look.

"Speeding-Bullet Star Leaves Enormous Streak Across Sky" is about the trail Mira leaves, at it shoots through the Milky Way galaxy.

The trail is about 13 light years long (Mira is about 350 light years away - it would look very roughly as big as the lower support of an American football goal post, as seen from the other end of the field. If you could see in ultraviolet, and were above Earth's atmosphere, that is.

A good article, if you're interested in astronomy.

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