Red supergiant DFK 52 and its surroundings as seen by ALMA. (IMAGE)

Chalmers University of Technology

Red supergiant DFK 52 and its surroundings as seen by ALMA.

Caption

Red supergiant DFK 52 and its surroundings as seen by ALMA. The vast, complex bubble blown by this extreme star is about 1.4 light years across, thousands of times wider than our Solar System. ALMA measures light invisible to our eyes, with wavelength around 1.3 millimetres, emitted by molecules of carbon monoxide and silicon monoxide. Thanks to the Doppler effect, the team has measured how fast the gas is moving along our sightline towards the star. In this image, parts of the bubble moving away from us relative to the star are shown in red, and material moving towards us in blue.

Credit

ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/M. Siebert et al

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CC BY

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