|
Tuesday, April 13, 2010 By Vanessa Wheeler
Advertising
For more than two centuries, a star known as Epsilon Arigae, in the Auriga constellation, has perplexed scientists due to its light halving for 18 months because such a phenomenon only occurs every 27.1 years. Now, it is possible that such a mystery has been solved with new evidence found Wednesday, as the answer has been recently concluded to be a large disk of dust that obscures the view of the star. This “eclipse” of Epsilon Arigae started back in late 2009 and will continue until 2011. “The images are a major technical feat, showing how very distant objects may be brought into closer focus,” said University of Michigan professor John Monnier, whose institution made the interferometry instrument. “There's no other (star) system like this known. On top of that, it seems to be in a rare phase of stellar life. And it happens to be so close to us.”
| |