A team of astronomers, including one from Ireland, have observed what they think is a gigantic flare on the surface of Mira, one of the closest and most famous red giant stars in the sky.
The data was captured by an international team of scientists in Sweden, France and the USA using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array or ALMA – a large international astronomy facility located 5000m above sea level in Chile.
The researchers say they are surprised by the discovery which could help our understanding of how winds from giant stars impact on our galaxy.
As they die, red giant stars start to shed their outer layers through uneven smoky winds, which transport heavy elements into space where they can form news stars and planets.
Mira is situated 420 light years away in a constellation called Cetus.
There are two Sun sized stars in the system – one is a dense hot white dwarf, while the other is a fat, cool red giant.
The new observations, taken by Alma, have allowed astronomers get the best ever view of the double star, their surfaces and the material flowing from one to the other.
“This is our clearest view yet of gas from Mira A that is falling towards Mira B” says Eamon O’Gorman, astronomer at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden and a member of the team.
The research is published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.
The world’s largest astronomy project, Alma is a partnership of Europe, North America and East Asia in cooperation with the Republic of Chile.
Ireland is not currently a member of the European Southern Observatory, Europe’s main astronomy organisation, which is part of the Alma consortium.
