Red Giant CW Leo Had Astronomers Fooled For Years, Star Enters Planetary Nebula

First Posted: Dec 07, 2015 11:24 AM EST

CW Leo, also known as IRC+10216, could be one of the second brightest stars in the North Sky, but only if our eyes could see its infrared light. However, a University of Sydney student discovered that for many years, astronomers have misunderstood the star's surrounding hot dust and gas as the structural elements to the star system.

CW Leo is located 450 light years away from the earth. Paul Stewart, graduate student, reconstructed images of CW Leo from with 2000 to 2008, which were observed with the Cassini spacecraft. Stewart's observations of CW Leo's circumstellar environment showed that researchers were actually observing the emitting dust from the star system and now the star is buried in its own dust, according to a news release. Stewart's high resolution images were more similar to a changing inkblot pattern than a star.

CW Leo has been studied extensively for many years, now it is approaching its planetary nebula formation, which is the ending of the red giant's life.

"In the space of a couple of years, it has completely shed its familiar identity and adopted an entirely new visage," Stewart said in a news release.

The new study revealed that previously identified structures in IRC+10216's circumstellar environment and the position of the star were most likely inaccurate.

"The real excitement is the extreme physics-CW Leo is a swollen luminous giant poised at the most self-destructive phase of its existence," Stewart said. "It is literally tearing itself apart under its own glare, hurling dense clouds of dust and gas out into the galaxy, dying amidst its own glorious final fireworks display."

The findings of this study were published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS).

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TagsSolar System, Cassini Spacecraft, space, Astronomers, astronomy, Astronaut, Exoplanets, Red Giant, University of Sydney, Paul Stewart, CW Leo, IRC+10216, Solar Energy, solar atmosphere, Stars, circumstellar