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Hubble Discovers a Fast-Aging Star Nicknamed "Nasty 1"

Posted by samzenpus on from the vanity-plate-ideas dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, Astronomers have uncovered surprising new clues about a large, rapidly aging star whose behavior has never been seen before. The star is so strange in fact that astronomers have nicknamed it "Nasty 1," a play on its catalog name of NaSt1. Wolf-Rayet stars like NaSt1 are typically large, rapidly evolving stellar bodies that form by shedding their hydrogen-filled outer layers quickly, exposing a bright hot, helium-burning core. Nasty 1 is unique because it contains a disk like structure. "We were excited to see this disk-like structure because it may be evidence for a Wolf-Rayet star forming from a binary interaction," said Jon Mauerhan of UC Berkeley, lead author on the new Nasty 1 paper. "There are very few examples in the galaxy of this process in action because this phase is short-lived, perhaps lasting only a hundred thousand years, while the timescale over which a resulting disk is visible could be only ten thousand years or less."

19 of 29 comments (clear)

  1. With Names Like This... by sanman2 · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's naming mishaps like this which lead to interstellar wars

    1. Re:With Names Like This... by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 2

      No, I prefer to think we're seeing a peaceful instance of Dyson sphere construction. Years from now this object will show up on the patrol scans as a vanilla-looking cool red giant.

    2. Re:With Names Like This... by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      Or suggests NASA workers need a vacation and a good f8ck.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    3. Re:With Names Like This... by sjames · · Score: 1

      That and a certain country in Europe.

    4. Re:With Names Like This... by laejoh · · Score: 1

      Hey, I live there, you insensitive clod!

    5. Re:With Names Like This... by Gr8Apes · · Score: 1

      No, I prefer to think we're seeing a peaceful instance of Dyson sphere construction. Years from now this object will show up on the patrol scans as a vanilla-looking cool red giant.

      and another instance of "dark matter" will be born.... (there will be no red giant, a sufficiently advanced race that can build a dyson sphere won't waste that much energy)

      --
      The cesspool just got a check and balance.
  2. rapidly aging star whose behavior.... by turkeydance · · Score: 4, Funny

    Woody Allen would be appropriate.

  3. I would have preferred ... by Krishnoid · · Score: 2

    "Miss Jackson"

  4. Lets get Nasty baby by MrKaos · · Score: 1

    Have some of my gas...

    --
    My ism, it's full of beliefs.
  5. 2" by Whiteox · · Score: 1

    Congrats to Hubble. The whole thing is only 2" across!
    http://astronomynow.com/wp-con...

    --
    Don't be apathetic. Procrastinate!
  6. Re:pixels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Yup, almost like how in the 19th century they were able to deduce the presence of helium in the Sun from a few lines on a spectroscope.

  7. Hubble Discovers?! Oh Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Wow, who exactly writes these headlines?!?!

    From TFA "The star’s catalogue name, NaSt1, is derived from the first two letters of each of the two astronomers who discovered it in 1963, Jason Nassau and Charles Stephenson."

    1. Re:Hubble Discovers?! Oh Really? by Tanktalus · · Score: 3, Funny

      So you're saying this is old news?

      Really, isn't that all slashdot is about now?

      Admittedly, 50 years behind is a bit long, even by slashdot standards...

  8. Hello, Nasty! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The Beastie Boys dropped "Intergalactic" on "Hello Nasty" back in 1998.

  9. Re:pixels by michelcolman · · Score: 1

    They simply enhanced it.

  10. Re:aliens by ZeRu · · Score: 1

    The Geth are real.

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    If you post as an AC, don't expect me to spend a mod point on you.
  11. Re:porn star? by PPH · · Score: 1

    Fast aging porn star. Probably from the days of VHS.

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    Have gnu, will travel.
  12. she's back by amias · · Score: 1

    just when you thought joan rivers was gone for good

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    [site]
  13. H2 -- He by rogerbly · · Score: 1

    If these stars are burning He to produce H2, we are on to something.

    "... bodies that form by shedding their hydrogen-filled outer layers quickly, exposing a bright hot, helium-burning core."