Hubble hotshot?Who's the hottest star in the Milky Way? Luke Perry? Halle Berry? Neither can hold a candle to a star the Hubble Space Telescope Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the first large optical orbiting observatory. Built from 1978 to 1990 at a cost of $1.5 billion, the HST (named for astronomer E. P. Hubble) was expected to provide the clearest view yet obtained of the universe. recently spotted in our galaxy. The star's surface sizzles at a record 200,000 [degrees] C, calculates NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. astronomer Sally Heap. That is hot! The face of our Sun burns at only 5,500 [degrees] C. But if the star's so hot, how come no one ever saw it before? Because it was hidden, says Heap - by a glowing cloud of gases called a nebula nebula (nĕb`y  lə) [Lat.,=mist], in astronomy, observed manifestation of a collection of highly rarefied gas and dust in interstellar space. . Looking up through Earth's distorting atmosphere, astronomers couldn't tell the star from the cloud. But when Hubble opened its "eyes" high above our atmosphere, it had a clear view. That view enabled astronomers to measure how much ultraviolet and visible light the star gives off. The higher the ratio of ultraviolet light Ultraviolet light A portion of the light spectrum not visible to the eye. Two bands of the UV spectrum, UVA and UVB, are used to treat psoriasis and other skin diseases. to visible light, says Heap, the hotter the star. Being in the last stage of stellar burnout Burnout Depletion of a tax shelter's benefits. In the context of mortgage backed securities it refers to the percentage of the pool that has prepaid their mortgage. is what makes this particular star such a fireball. "It's as if we've captured this object during its moment of glory," Heap says. |
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