Giant Star Expels Multiple Dust Shells, Astronomers Find

Giant Star Expels Multiple Dust Shells, Astronomers Find

WOW!! this is awesome!!

"Until recently, the environment of giant stars seemed homogeneous, but more and more observations indicate that this is not true," says Leen Decin. "These new Herschel images confirm that in a stunning way. We have detected a dozen arcs, puffed out by the star in the course of its life. The faintest shell we found is already at a distance of 7,000 billion kilometers from the star."
The different shells were ejected by the star with intervals of 500 to 1,700 years. The astronomers in the team believe such shells, even fainter, are also present further out, up to the violent bow shock where the expelled material of the star collides with the interstellar medium. The oldest shells have probably disappeared in the bow shock already.

The star in the article is CW Leo, and it appears that the dust shells are previous nova ejections from the super giant. Fascinating!

is it just me or does the pic on the bottom left look like a swastika haha. nazi sun conspiracy commence