File:Kappa Cassiopeiae.jpg

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English: Kappa Cassiopeiae, or HD 2905 to astronomers, is a runaway star—a massive, hot supergiant gone rogue. What really makes the star stand out in this image is the surrounding, streaky red glow of material in its path. Such structures are called bow shocks, and they can often be seen in front of the fastest, most massive stars in the galaxy.

Bow shocks form where the magnetic fields and wind of particles flowing off a star collide with the diffuse, and usually invisible, gas and dust that fill the space between stars. How these shocks light up tells astronomers about the conditions around the star and in space. Slow-moving stars like our sun have bow shocks that are nearly invisible at all wavelengths of light, but fast stars like Kappa Cassiopeiae create shocks that can be seen by Spitzer’s infrared detectors.

Incredibly, this shock is created about 4 light-years ahead of Kappa Cassiopeiae, showing what a sizable impact this star has on its surroundings.
Date
Source http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/5730-sig14-003-The-Shocking-Behavior-of-a-Speedy-Star
Author NASA/JPL-Caltech

Type Star > Evolutionary Stage > Blue Supergiant Star > Circumstellar Material > Outflow

Distance 4,000 Light Years

Position (J2000) RA = 0h 33m 8.4s Dec = 62° 55' 57.7"

Field of View 24.7 x 18.8 arcminutes

Orientation North is 151.7° left of vertical

Constellation Cassiopeia


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Public domain This file is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". (See Template:PD-USGov, NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy.)
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current20:34, 19 March 2014Thumbnail for version as of 20:34, 19 March 20142,470 × 1,880 (1.38 MB)Loridajose (talk | contribs)User created page with UploadWizard

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