                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2023 April 28

                      Runaway Star Alpha Camelopardalis
                         Image Credit: André Vilhena

   Explanation: Like a ship plowing through cosmic seas, runaway star
   Alpha Camelopardalis has produced this graceful arcing bow wave or bow
   shock. The massive supergiant star moves at over 60 kilometers per
   second through space, compressing the interstellar material in its
   path. At the center of this nearly 6 degree wide view, Alpha Cam is
   about 25-30 times as massive as the Sun, 5 times hotter (30,000
   kelvins), and over 500,000 times brighter. About 4,000 light-years away
   in the long-necked constellation Camelopardalis, the star also produces
   a strong stellar wind. Alpha Cam's bow shock stands off about 10
   light-years from the star itself. What set this star in motion?
   Astronomers have long thought that Alpha Cam was flung out of a nearby
   cluster of young hot stars due to gravitational interactions with other
   cluster members or perhaps by the supernova explosion of a massive
   companion star.

                     Tomorrow's picture: pixels in space
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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