Astronomers have noticed tails that look like comets in the stars – Technology

Using the telescope ALMA, astronomers have seen giant stars located in the immense young group of Westerlund 1 in the Milky Way, the "tails" of comets. As stated on the website of the European Southern Observatory, the tails are formed by dense and powerful starry winds, projected by the stars into the environment.

The mechanism of this phenomenon is similar to that with which famous tails are found in comets. These tails in the solar system "blow" nuclei from their maternal comets "solar wind" – particles of particles that come out of the Sun. As a result, the tails of comets are always directed to the opposite side of the Sun. Similarly, the "tails" of giant red stars are directed from the core of the cluster, probably due to the action of powerful star winds generated by hundreds of massive stars. in the central area of ​​Westerlund 1.

Earlier, scientists had studied the new data from Chandra's X-ray observatory and had discovered a ring of X-ray light sources in a galaxy located 300 million years ago. -light of the Earth.