Tag: red giants
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With help from NEOWISE, astronomers observe giant star destroying planet for the first time
Using the California Institute of Technology’s (Caltech) Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) and NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) observatory, a group of scientists has observed an aging star destroying a planet within its own star system for the first time. Astronomers have long believed that such a phenomenon occurred in red giant…
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VY Canis Majoris mass-loss history sheds light on hypergiant’s state, connection to Betelgeuse
In the southern hemisphere, in the constellation Canis Major, lies a very young, very massive red hypergiant star called VY Canis Majoris (VY CMa). A pulsating variable, its apparent magnitude (how bright it appears in the night sky) varies unpredictably. It is located 1.2 kiloparsecs, or approximately 3,900 light years, from Earth, is only 8.2…