Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]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 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. Runaway Star Alpha Camelopardalis Image Credit: [3]André Vilhena Explanation: Like a ship plowing through cosmic seas, runaway star [4]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 [5]interstellar material in its path. [6]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 [7]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 [8]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 __________________________________________________________________ [9]< | [10]Archive | [11]Submissions | [12]Index | [13]Search | [14]Calendar | [15]RSS | [16]Education | [17]About APOD | [18]Discuss | [19]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [20]Robert Nemiroff ([21]MTU) & [22]Jerry Bonnell ([23]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [24]Specific rights apply. [25]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [26]ASD at [27]NASA / [28]GSFC, [29]NASA Science Activation & [30]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2304/AlphaCamelopardis_s3100.png 3. https://www.astrobin.com/users/AndreVilhena/ 4. http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/alphacam.html 5. http://www-ssg.sr.unh.edu/ism/what1.html 6. https://www.astrobin.com/btpfxw/B/ 7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camelopardalis 8. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/WISE/news/wise20110310.html 9. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230427.html 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 13. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 18. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230428 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230429.html 20. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 21. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 22. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 23. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 25. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 26. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 27. https://www.nasa.gov/ 28. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 29. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 30. http://www.mtu.edu/