A Wolf-Rayet Star Blows Bubbles
Explanation:
Wolf-Rayet stars can blow bubbles. These
unusual stars are much hotter and more luminous than our
Sun.
All extremely massive stars will eventually evolve though a Wolf-Rayet
phase.
Approximately 200
Wolf-Rayet stars
are known in our
Milky Way Galaxy.
Wolf-Rayet stars
generate
bubbles
because they continually eject their outer atmosphere as a stellar
wind. This outgoing wind of particles typically carries away
more than the mass of our
Earth each
year! The
wind is caused by atmospheric particles absorbing outgoing starlight,
although many details of this process are unknown. The Wolf-Rayet
is the brightest star in the
above picture
and is in the center of the large bubble in the nebula known as
NGC
2359.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
