The Administration has released a public information related to their recent findings on early Monday morning. According to the document, NASA explains the reasons behind Nasty 1 star’s name choice.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has been in the center of the media lately due to the numerous space discoveries that they have made. The most recent and important find has a lot to do with the erratic behavior of a Wolf Rayet star.
The celestial body has been identified several years ago by Jason Nassau and Charles Stephenson. The names of the two scientists have been used for the catalogue listing of the said star, namely NaSty 1. Yet, this was not the only reason why experts at NASA chose to name the sphere this way.
Jon Mauerhan of the University of California explained on the official website of the administration that the star has one of the most unusual behaviors to have ever been noticed in a star. Hence, the nickname Nasty 1, which is in keeping both with its catalogue listing and the names of the scientists.
In their opinion, the celestial body has become even more erratic, judging by the recent photos captured by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The recent images that were sent on Earth show Nasty surrounded by a dense nebula. As a matter of fact, researchers have had a rough time identifying the star because of the massive gas surrounding it.
They believe the nebula was formed as a result of the close vicinity between Nasty 1 and another similar Wolf Rayet star. However, Nasty 1 could now be swallowing the other star as this nebula is specific for these phenomena.
This act of cannibalism is, in Mauerhan’s opinion, not often encountered among celestial bodies. The fact that NaSty 1 is now ‘eating’ its neighbor has intrigued all scientists, but they think such events might have taken place in the past, as well. Unfortunately, these phenomena are incredibly rare and brief, so space shuttles do not always capture them.
Nasty 1 is a Wof-Rayet star, whose aging process is very rapid. The sphere has been located at around 3000 years away from the Earth, but it is also the closest celestial body to the Sun.
Now that Nasty has entered the view range of the Hubble Space Telescope, scientists will continue to keep a close eye on the star to determine its future evolution. Even though the recent findings have been very illustrative in point of what the Wolf-Rayet sphere can do, experts believe Nasty’s behavior is unpredictable. They expect many similar surprising acts to occur in the future.
Image Source: Examiner
