Foreseeing the Sun’s fate: Astronomical interferometry reveals the close environment of Mira stars

For the first time, an international team of astronomers led by Guy Perrin from the Paris Observatory/LESIA, (Meudon, France) and Stephen Ridgway from the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (Tucson, Arizona, USA) has observed the close environment of five so-called red giant Mira stars, using astronomical interferometric techniques. They found that the observed Mira stars are embedded in a shell of water vapor and possibly of carbon monoxide that extends to twice the stellar radius. Studying these Mira stars is of particular interest since they are now undergoing a late stage of the evolution that one-solar mass stars, including our Sun, experience. Therefore, these stars illustrate the fate of our Sun five billion years from now. Would such a star, including its surrounding shell, be located at the Sun’s position in our solar system, it would extend far beyond Mars.

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All News summaries for September 17, 2004