Disc around aged star (model)

Astronomers have used ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer and its razor sharp eyes to discover a reservoir of dust trapped into a disc that surrounds an elderly star. Here, model images of the disc of dust around the aged star, V390 Velorum, as inferred from observations taken with ESO's powerful interferometric instruments, Astronomical Multi-BEam combineR (AMBER) and MID-infrared Interferometric instrument (MIDI), at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer, are shown at two different wavelengths (2 microns, left panel; 10 microns, right panel). The observations reveal a disc with a much puffed-up inner rim, extending from 9 Astronomical Units to several hundreds of AU. The giant star, whose position is indicated by the cross in the images, is 5000 times as bright as our Sun and is located 2,600 light-years away from Earth. The brightest region is the inner wall on the far side.

Credit:

ESO

Over de afbeelding

Id:eso0743a
Type:Observatie
Publicatiedatum:27 september 2007
Gerelateerde berichten:eso0743
Grootte:2138 x 848 px

Over het object

Naam:V390 Velorum
Type:Milky Way : Star : Evolutionary Stage : Red Giant
Categorie:Stars

Afbeeldingstypen

Grote JPEG
115,4 KB

Achtergrond

1024x768
53,9 KB
1280x1024
73,7 KB
1600x1200
95,4 KB
1920x1200
116,1 KB
2048x1536
131,0 KB

Kleuren & filters

BandGolflengteTelescoop
Infrarood
Near-IR
2.0 μmVery Large Telescope
AMBER
Infrarood
Mid-IR
10 μmVery Large Telescope
MIDI