Hubble sees red giant blow a bubble
Monday, July 9, 2012 - 07:01
in Astronomy & Space
(Phys.org) -- Camelopardalis, or U Cam for short, is a star nearing the end of its life. As stars run low on fuel, they become unstable. Every few thousand years, U Cam coughs out a nearly spherical shell of gas as a layer of helium around its core begins to fuse. The gas ejected in the stars latest eruption is clearly visible in this picture as a faint bubble of gas surrounding the star.