Dying Star Builds Planets

News
By published
Dying Star Builds Planets
A color image of the Mira system constructed from an archival Hubble Space Telescope image. Mira B glows blue because of the violent shock front formed as the inner part of the disk crashes into the central star. The dust outflow from Mira A has a green color because it is nearly-transparent emission from sillicate dust, and the more red color from near Mira B is due to the opaque edge of the disk being heated by Mira A. (Image credit: Caltech.)
  • Key toPlanet Formation Found in Space Lint
  • IMAGES:Planet Building in Action
  • All About Stars

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

Ker Than
Staff Writer

Ker Than is a science writer and children's book author who joined Space.com as a Staff Writer from 2005 to 2007. Ker covered astronomy and human spaceflight while at Space.com, including space shuttle launches, and has authored three science books for kids about earthquakes, stars and black holes. Ker's work has also appeared in National Geographic, Nature News, New Scientist and Sky & Telescope, among others. He earned a bachelor's degree in biology from UC Irvine and a master's degree in science journalism from New York University. Ker is currently the Director of Science Communications at Stanford University.

More about science astronomy

Astronomers gaze into 'dark nebula' 60 times the size of the solar system (video)

James Webb Space Telescope finds a wild black hole growth spurt in galaxies at 'cosmic noon'

How to edit a solar eclipse photograph: A step-by-step guide
See more latest
Most Popular
Night sky map
How to see a celestial 'gazelle' cross the night sky close to the Big Dipper this week
The Nikon D850 on Space.com orange planet backdrop with deals logo
Capture May's full moon and the Eta Aquarid meteor shower with the best DSLR for astrophotography, now $600 off
A purple hued image showing two black circles circling around one another in the center. There is a wave of pinkish gas trailing behind each of them.
What can ripples in spacetime reveal about black holes? Quite a bit, it turns out
Recovery crews surround the return capsule of China's Shenzhou 19 astronaut mission after it returned to Earth on April 30, 2025.
China's Shenzhou 19 astronauts return to Earth after 6 months aboard Tiangong space station (video, photos)
Atmos Space Cargo's Phoenix 1 capsule is seen attached to the upper stage of its Falcon 9 rocket during the Bandwagon-3 mission on April 21, 2025.
See photos snapped in space by Europe's 1st private reentry capsule
a black and white photo of a man in a white button down shirt and black tie holding a piece of space equipment
NASA engineer Ed Smylie, who led carbon dioxide fix on Apollo 13, dies at 95
earth can be seen behind metallic tubing and wires on the outside of a spacecraft
Firefly Aerospace's Alpha rocket fails during launch, falls into the sea near Antarctica
The crew of Axiom Space's Ax-4 mission to the International Space Station. From left to right: pilot Shubhanshu Shukla, commander Peggy Whitson, mission specialist Sławosz Uznański and mission specialist Tibor Kapu.
SpaceX's next private astronaut mission to ISS, Ax-4, to launch May 29 for Axiom Space
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launches 27 of Amazon's Project Kuiper internet satellites to orbit on April 28, 2025.
New record! 6 rockets launch in less than 24 hours
The iconic Whirlpool galaxy Messier 51 is pictured along with the smaller galaxy NGC 5195 at the top of the image.
Amateur astronomer captures detailed photos of Croc's Eye and Whirlpool galaxies from backyard observatory