Foreseeing the Sun's fate: Astronomical interferometry reveals the close environment of Mira stars |
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Foreseeing the Sun's fate: Astronomical interferometry reveals the close environment of Mira stars
For the first time, an international team of astronomers led by Guy Perrin from Paris Observatory, and Stephen Ridgway from the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (Tucson, Arizona, USA) has observed the close environment of five so-called red giant Mira stars, using astronomical interferometric techniques. They found that the observed Mira stars are embedded in a shell of water vapor and possibly of carbon monoxide that extends to twice the stellar radius. Studying these Mira stars is of particular interest since they are now undergoing a late stage of the evolution that one-solar mass stars, including our Sun, experience. Therefore, these stars illustrate the fate of our Sun five billion years from now. Would such a star, including its surrounding shell, be located at the Sun's position in our solar system, it would extend far beyond Mars (see Figure)
See the Press Release from Astronomy & Astrophysics
Figure 1 The mean size of the observed Mira stars and their surrounding molecular layer is compared to the size of the inner Solar System. The Earth's, Mars' and Jupiter's orbits are shown, as well as the Sun's position. The picture illustrates that when the Sun becomes a Mira-type star in about 5 billion years, it will nearly reach Mars' orbit and its surrounding molecular layer will extend far beyond Mars.
Click on the image to enlarge itReference
''Unveiling Mira stars behind the molecules: Confirmation of the molecular layer model with narrow band near-infrared interferometry''
by G. Perrin, S.T. Ridgway, B. Mennesson, W.D. Cotton, J. Woillez, T. Verhoelst, P. Schuller, V. Coudé du Foresto, W.A. Traub, R. Millan-Gabet, M.G. Lacasse To be published in Astronomy & AstrophysicsContact
