Starship Asterisk*

geckzilla wrote:There must be an amazing amount of stuff out there that just isn't illuminated or is shadowed. I wonder how many dust disks out there are concealing their stars from us. Surely there's some behind such thick dust that even infrared doesn't make it through.

... Now, new observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope -- in combination with archived ultraviolet, visible and other infrared data -- point to one of two competing theories, and a likely solution to this age-old puzzle. One theory holds that the bright star is a massive supergiant, periodically eclipsed by two tight-knit stars inside a swirling, dusty disk. The second theory holds that the bright star is in fact a dying star with a lot less mass, periodically eclipsed by just a single star inside a disk. The Spitzer data strongly support the latter scenario.

emc wrote:

http://spitzer.caltech.edu/news/1036-ssc2010-01-Centuries-Old-Star-Mystery-Coming-to-a-Close wrote:
... Now, new observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope -- in combination with archived ultraviolet, visible and other infrared data -- point to one of two competing theories, and a likely solution to this age-old puzzle. One theory holds that the bright star is a massive supergiant, periodically eclipsed by two tight-knit stars inside a swirling, dusty disk.

The second theory holds that the bright star is in fact a dying star with a lot less mass, periodically eclipsed by just a single star inside a disk. The Spitzer data strongly support the latter scenario.

• ------------------------------------------------------
  . Shakespeare's _Poems_(1640) Dedication
  .
  <<...to invite your allowance, in your perusal you
  shall find them Seren, clear, and elegantly plain,
  such gentle strains as shall recreate and
  not perplex your brain, no intricate or
  CLOUDY stuff to puzzle intellect.>> - John Benson
  ------------------------------------------------------

http://spitzer.caltech.edu/images/2866-ssc2010-01a-Epsilon-Aurigae-Puzzle-Pieces-Snap-Into-Place wrote:


This graph of data from multiple telescopes shows the distribution of light from a pair of stars known as Epsilon Aurigae. For centuries, astronomers had not been able to figure out the nature of this "eclipsing binary system," in which a bright naked-eye star is eclipsed by a companion object every 27 years.

Data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope are pointing to a solution to this age-old riddle. The Spitzer data, shown in bright yellow and orange, provide the missing puzzle pieces need to fit all the data on the star together into a neat model. The blue data show ultraviolet observations, and the light yellow/green data are from visible-light telescopes. The blue data show light from the companion object, a so-called B star, while the light yellow data show light from the main bright star, called an F star.

The orange and bright yellow data from Spitzer show light from the F star and a dusty disk that is surrounding the B-star.

The new model indicates that the F star is not a supergiant as a favored theory had proposed but a dying star with a lot less mass.>>

emc wrote:http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/ ... 2451.story

- Ed

neufer wrote:

emc wrote:http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/ ... 2451.story

- Ed

So you're THAT Ed

geckzilla wrote:So a cosmic donut is responsible for causing all this puzzlement and confusion among Earth's brightest minds.
Homer Simpson would be proud if he knew. Or maybe just really hungry.

JohnD wrote:This star and its odd behaviour was featured in a discussion of variables between Sir Patrick Moore, the Good Astronomer, and Dr.John Mason in a recent Sky at Night ("Twinkle twinkle"). Dr.Mason pointed out that at the middle of the dimming, there is a slight brightening. He interprets this as a hole in the dust disc, which might be expected around a central star. Just like Homer's donut!

http://www.hposoft.com/Astro/PEP/EAUR/EAURMYS.html wrote:

orin stepanek wrote:So the B star has a dark disk of 4 au. So how far is the B star away from the A star?
I take it that the B star orbits the A star. Is that right? Or do they orbit each other?

http://www.hposoft.com/Astro/PEP/EAUR/EAURMYS.html wrote:

orin stepanek wrote:The dusty disc material must be pretty thick in order to dim Epsilon Aurigae so much.

• . Macbeth > Act V, scene V
  
  MACBETH: To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
  ___ Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
  ___ To the last syllable of recorded time,
  ___ And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
  ___ The way to dusty death(/disc). Out, out, brief candle!
  ___ Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
  ___ That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
  ___ And then is heard no more: it is a tale
  ___ Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
  ___ Signifying nothing.