A Star Makes Waves
I don’t usually post completely random starporn, because I like to explain things, but this stunning image has such a cool story … so I will give in. Behold a stellar wind cutting through cosmic dust like a ship’s bow through the waves!
The bright star at the center, Zeta Ophluchi, is hurtling through space to the image’s left at 24 kilometers per second. Its stellar wind, the result of charged particles being released from the active star’s surface (just like our Sun does), pushes that wind like an energized battering ram, slamming into the dusty clouds in its way and creating beautiful ripples visible in the infrared range of light, here falsely colored red and green.
Or, to put it another way: WOW.
(more details at NASA’s website)