Star Closeup

I really enjoy looking at images of the Sun from one of the several round-the-clock monitoring systems.  It’s fascinating that the public can get access to almost real time images of the Sun and see what’s going on in several wavelengths.  I’ve always hoped to see what other stars look like in the future, and today, that future is one step closer.  Here’s a brand new picture of another star!   This is a real image of distant star π1Gruis, a star 350 times as massive as the Sun, in the southern hemisphere constellation Grus.  The star is 530 light years...

Major Result in Stellar Evolution

Nebula. Collapse. Protostar. Main Sequence. Red Giant. Planetary Nebula. White Dwarf.  This is the cycle of life for a star like our Sun.  By observing stars across the galaxy, we see snapshots of different points in a star’s life cycle.  It’s the same with people; If you went for a walk in a city and observed people for a day, you would see every single stage of a person’s life: Infant, child, adolescent, youth, adult, middle aged, senior.  How would you put them in order if you knew nothing about them? With people you might go up and ask them, but with stars we can...