Fact Sheet
Speeding Star
The star Mira leaves a trail of gas and dust as it races through the galaxy in this recent view from the Galaxy Explorer (Galex) spacecraft. Galex views the universe in ultraviolet light, which is not visible to the unaided eye. Mira's tail doesn't show up in visible-light images of the star. Mira is an old, bloated star that sheds gas and dust from its surface. As it races through the galaxy at almost 300,000 mph, some of this material is stripped away, forming the tail, which stretches across 13 light-years. In this picture, Mira is embedded in the bright "bubble" of gas at the right, with its tail streaming off to the left. [NASA/JPL/Caltech]
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