I suspect the world would be better if that percentage were even greater.
NASA – Mira: A Star with a Comets Tail
Had you asked me what Mira was before this week, I would have (correctly) told you that it is the name of a variable star. It turns out that it is Omicron Ceti, a red giant star approximately 418 light years away in the souther constellation Cetus (the Whale). It is also a well known variable star: oscillating from magnitude 2.0 to magnitude 4.9, a variation in brightness of almost 15.
What’s new are ultraviolet studies done by NASA from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer telescope. Apparently the star is leaving a trail of material almost 13 light years long as it travels through space. Very cool!
NASA – Mira: A Star with a Comets Tail
[tags]Astronomy,Mira[/tags]
Comment from JOAN CHESTNUT
Time 8/24/2007 at 6:07 am
Last night my husband and I along with several neighbours watched what we believe was Mira. We could see the tail as it crossed the heavens and it was floresent green. We viewed it for at least 30 minutes and then went inside. I was reading that the tail is only visible in the ultraviolet but we saw it quite plainly and it was even brighter when we looked at it through binoculars.
Editors note: Uh… was peyote involved in this neighborhood get together? I’m just guessing.