Like a cosmic lawn sprinkler, dust streaming from a rotating star system creates a pinwheel pattern in this false color infrared image [
http://isi.ssl.berk…]. Astronomers discovered the surprising star dust scenario using a sophisticated interferometer [
http://isi.ssl.berk…] and the 10 meter Keck I telescope to observe the bright Wolf-Rayet star WR 104. Wolf-Rayet stars [
http://www.star.ucl…] are thought to be massive objects on the brink of a cataclysmic supernova explosion - having grown so hot [
http://www.star.ucl…] and bright that their intense light begins [
http://www.limber.o…] to drive material away in a stellar wind. The problem is, their starlight would also be so intense that any dust flakes [
http://www.pha.jhu.…] should be destroyed! A possible solution to this [
http://isi.ssl.berk…] dusty dilemma is that a companion star exists hidden in the bright central region, generating wind interactions which shield a relatively narrow dust forming region from the light of WR 104. As the binary system rotates [
http://astrosun.tn.…], the spray of surviving dust particles appears to spiral outward.
Explanation
Like a cosmic lawn sprinkler, dust streaming from a rotating star system creates a pinwheel pattern in this false color infrared image [
http://isi.ssl.berk…]. Astronomers discovered the surprising star dust scenario using a sophisticated interferometer [
http://isi.ssl.berk…] and the 10 meter Keck I telescope to observe the bright Wolf-Rayet star WR 104. Wolf-Rayet stars [
http://www.star.ucl…] are thought to be massive objects on the brink of a cataclysmic supernova explosion - having grown so hot [
http://www.star.ucl…] and bright that their intense light begins [
http://www.limber.o…] to drive material away in a stellar wind. The problem is, their starlight would also be so intense that any dust flakes [
http://www.pha.jhu.…] should be destroyed! A possible solution to this [
http://isi.ssl.berk…] dusty dilemma is that a companion star exists hidden in the bright central region, generating wind interactions which shield a relatively narrow dust forming region from the light of WR 104. As the binary system rotates [
http://astrosun.tn.…], the spray of surviving dust particles appears to spiral outward.
Explanation
