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Red Giant Star Mira’s Football Shape

Hubble's visible-light image of the disk of Mira reveals it has an odd, asymmetrical shape resembling a football. This may be tied to dramatic changes occurring during its expansion-contraction cycles, or to the presence of unresolved spots on its surface. Hubble measurements show the red giant star is 700 times larger than our Sun.

Object Name
Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
Mira A, Omicron Ceti
Release Date
August 6, 1997
Science Release
Hubble Separates Stars in the Mira Binary System
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Credit
Margarita Karovska (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) and NASA

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The Mira Binary System: A Red Giant Star and Its Hot Companion

[TOP] This is a NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of the cool red giant star Mira A (right), officially called Omicron Ceti in the constellation Cetus, and its nearby hot companion (left) taken on December 11, 1995 in visible light using the European Space Agency's Faint Object...

Red Giant Star Mira and Its Companion

This is a NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of the cool red giant star Mira A (right), officially called Omicron Ceti in the constellation Cetus, and its nearby hot companion (left) taken on December 11, 1995 in visible light using the European Space Agency's Faint Object Camera...