dying red giant tagged posts

Gemini South captures the spectacular end-of-life display of a red-giant star. A billowing pair of nearly symmetrical loops of dust and gas mark the death throes of an ancient red-giant star, as captured by Gemini South, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, operated by NSF’s NOIRLab...

This is a molecular gas around star LL Pegasi. Credit: ALMA, Hyosun Kim

Using a powerful telescope, scientists view spiral pattern of gaseous emissions around LL Pegasi and its companion star. An international team of astronomers has observed a striking spiral pattern in the gas surrounding a red giant star named LL Pegasi and its companion star 3,400 light-years from Earth using ALMA. “What we are seeing in splendid detail with these observations is the final act of a dying red giant star, as it sheds most of its gaseous bulk in a strong, outflowing wind,” said Mark Morris, UCLA professor of physics and astronomy.

After comparing their telescopic observations with computer simulations, the astronomers concluded that a highly elliptical orbit is responsible for the shape of the gaseous emi...