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.)

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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.