If You Think This Spiral Is a Galaxy, You’d Be Wrong — It’s Only One Star!
- Posted on November 8, 2011 at 2:43pm by
Liz Klimas
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When NASA astronomers pointed their Subaru telescope toward the constellation Lupus and saw spiral arms, they thought they may have a newly forming planets on their hands.
But when they looked closer thinking they would find millions of stars and maybe even forming planets, they found what was really an individual star. This is the first time a single star has been seen with arms before.
SAO 206462 features. (Image: NAOJ/Subaru via NASA)
“Detailed computer simulations have shown us that the gravitational pull of a planet inside a circumstellar disk can perturb gas and dust, creating spiral arms,” said Carol Grady, an astronomer with Eureka Scientific, Inc., in a NASA news alert. “Now, for the first time, we’re seeing these dynamical features.”
The star, named SAO 206462, is in the constellation Lupus (400 light years from Earth) and is 14 billion miles across, which according to NASA is about twice the size of Pluto’s orbit in our own solar system.
Watch the Science at NASA report:
The star was found as part of Grady’s five year international research project about young stars and planets.
This star with spiral arms joins a long list of different star tips including dwarf, giant, dead, exploding and binary just to name a few.
[H/T Gizmodo]
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stereojoe
Posted on November 14, 2011 at 5:49pmWhen looking closer, scientist actually saw Micheal Moore shedding massive waves of gravy to make room for his upcoming Thanksgiving gorge-fest.
Unfortunately for us, these waves of gravy are now set to hit Earth on December 21, 2012.
Report Post »Brady
Posted on November 8, 2011 at 9:52pmSo, um, what is “masking” the center of the star? Did anyone ever say?
Report Post »YoungBloodNews
Posted on November 8, 2011 at 10:05pmThat would be the mothership, maybe the scientologists were on to something hehe…. ;)
Report Post »Mr Sanders
Posted on November 8, 2011 at 9:35pmThat’s a big Star! Has to be a very large body pulling on that star…very fantabulous!!
Report Post »Cold War Vet
Posted on November 8, 2011 at 8:25pmWell, that IS different. I too would have considered it an entire galaxy because the spiraling arms. Guess I was wrong! It’s just a single star!
Report Post »rpp
Posted on November 8, 2011 at 7:30pmFascinating. I guess this helps confirm some of the theories of the formation of the Solar System.
Report Post »AzSage
Posted on November 8, 2011 at 6:55pmAmazing how much we don’t know about our universe.
Report Post »Johnnie5-0
Posted on November 8, 2011 at 7:24pmAmazing how much we do not know about our own planet!
Report Post »Common.Cents
Posted on November 8, 2011 at 7:26pmAmazing how much we don’t know about our own bodies.
Report Post »fertlmind
Posted on November 8, 2011 at 7:34pmHow much ya wanna bet that some bimbo from this star suddenly shows up and claims that she just remembered how she was sexually assaulted by Herman Cain in the 1990′s?
Report Post »Jackie Rogers, Jr.
Posted on November 8, 2011 at 6:13pmLiz Klimas should have watched the video before writing her article.
Report Post »stoptheliesbho
Posted on November 8, 2011 at 4:56pmslow news day?
Report Post »@leftfighter
Posted on November 8, 2011 at 5:28pmNah. Stuff like this is interesting.
We can’t all focus on impending Obamageddon every minute of every day.
Report Post »YoungBloodNews
Posted on November 8, 2011 at 5:44pmNo ones forcing you to read. Some people actually like science and space. Also if you like this stuff remember there is a close asteroid coming tonight, you can check it out here:
http://events.slooh.com/
Report Post »NEVER AGGAIN
Posted on November 8, 2011 at 4:54pmWowzers!
Report Post »GeneTracy
Posted on November 8, 2011 at 7:01pmThat’s very STARtling!
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