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                           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.   
      
                                  2024 January 4   
      
                              Zeta Oph: Runaway Star   
             Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Spitzer Space Telescope   
      
      Explanation: Like a ship plowing through cosmic seas, runaway star Zeta   
      Ophiuchi produces the arcing interstellar bow wave or bow shock seen in   
      this stunning infrared portrait. In the false-color view, bluish Zeta   
      Oph, a star about 20 times more massive than the Sun, lies near the   
      center of the frame, moving toward the left at 24 kilometers per   
      second. Its strong stellar wind precedes it, compressing and heating   
      the dusty interstellar material and shaping the curved shock front.   
      What set this star in motion? Zeta Oph was likely once a member of a   
      binary star system, its companion star was more massive and hence   
      shorter lived. When the companion exploded as a supernova   
      catastrophically losing mass, Zeta Oph was flung out of the system.   
      About 460 light-years away, Zeta Oph is 65,000 times more luminous than   
      the Sun and would be one of the brighter stars in the sky if it weren't   
      surrounded by obscuring dust. The image spans about 1.5 degrees or 12   
      light-years at the estimated distance of Zeta Ophiuchi. In January   
      2020, NASA placed the Spitzer Space Telescope in safe mode, ending its   
      16 successful years of exploring the cosmos.   
      
                     Tomorrow's picture: at the heart of Orion   
        __________________________________________________________________   
      
          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
               NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.   
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                         A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,   
                              NASA Science Activation   
                                & Michigan Tech. U.   
      
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