Star with a Comet-Like Tail

Researchers using NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer (Galex) space telescope found this strange star with a very long tail (13 light years long, in fact!)

Astronomers say Mira’s tail offers a unique opportunity to study how stars like our sun die and ultimately seed new solar systems. Mira is an older star called a red giant that is losing massive amounts of surface material. As Mira hurtles along, its tail sheds carbon, oxygen and other important elements needed for new stars, planets and possibly even life to form. This tail material, visible now for the first time, has been released over the past 30,000 years.

The bizarreness that is space continues to amaze me: Link – via Boing Boing