6 September 2010
Herschel Finds Water around a Carbon Star
Posted by Ryan Anderson
Water is pretty common in the universe, since it is made of hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen is left over from the big bang and oxygen is made in most stars. But you don’t typically expect to find water in the atmosphere of stars themselves! That’s what astronomers using the infrared Herschel observatory found though! Deep in the shroud of gas and dust that CW Leonis is expelling as it dies, there is water at temperatures up near 1000 K. To learn more about it, check out my article over at Universe Today!
So the star is crying as it dies? 😛