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wtf_nature
Ghost Spiral
No doubt you remember the big spiral in the sky over Norway a while back, that turned out to be a Russian missile test gone tits up, again.
Phil Plait the Bad Astronomer brings our attention to a very similar shape in the sky, but this one is 3000 light years away.
This, believe it or not, is a thin spiral of soot flung out by a dying star. The star itself, and its binary partner, are invisible inside an even thicker cloud of carbon. The spiral is being illuminated by galactic starlight.
Phil Plait the Bad Astronomer brings our attention to a very similar shape in the sky, but this one is 3000 light years away.
This, believe it or not, is a thin spiral of soot flung out by a dying star. The star itself, and its binary partner, are invisible inside an even thicker cloud of carbon. The spiral is being illuminated by galactic starlight.