Red Giant

Phil Plait Bad Astronomy agb_presolargrain

Tiny grains of alien material in meteorites point to origins in other stars

By Phil Plait 3 weeks ago

Philip Plait Bad Astronomy Red Giant Dust Cloud

First a red giant cooks its planets, then it turns them into mini-stars

By Phil Plait 3 months ago

The supernova SN 2019NP (centered) blew up in the galaxy NGC 3254, and Hubble was used to observe both it and the stars around it to more accurately gauge its distance. ESA/Hubble & NASA, A. Riess et al.; CC BY 4.0

Measuring the expansion of the Universe: Dying stars may be telling us we're doing it wrong.

By Phil Plait 4 months ago

Philip Plait Bad Astronomy Star Eclipsed Dust Disk

What caused an old, giant star to disappear for over half a year?

By Phil Plait 4 months ago

ALMA observation of the gas around the dying star R Aquilae showing complex spirals and arcs. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Decin et al.

Cosmic flowers bloom as stars begin to die

By Phil Plait 1 year ago

Artwork depicting the Earth cooked by the Sun when it becomes a red giant… provided it doesn’t get engulfed as the Sun expands. Credit: Wikimedia commons / fsgregs

So, um, maybe the Sun will eventually swallow the Earth. Bummer.

By Phil Plait 1 year ago

W43A is a rare beast: The expanding gas from a star that’s just beginning its final stage of dying. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Tafoya et al.

Threading a cosmic needle: A fleeting glimpse of a dying star's final moments

By Phil Plait 1 year ago

Artwork depicting a star with material being pulled off by a nearby black hole. Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss

A black hole is slowly eating the corpse of a dead star

By Phil Plait 1 year ago

Fanciful artwork depicting a low-mass stellar black hole (lower left) and a red giant star orbiting each other. Credit: Ohio State / Jason Shults

The lowest mass black hole ever (not) seen may have been found

By Phil Plait 2 years ago

NGC 6826 is a planetary nebula, a dying star whose light is causing previously expelled gas around it to glow.

Astronomers are watching a star die in real time

By Phil Plait 2 years ago