Giant Star's Corona Brightens with Age

Chandra_239_1024

chandra_239 December 30th, 2004

Credit: NASA/CXC

Beta Ceti is in an advanced stage of evolution called core helium burning. In this stage, the core of the star is very hot (more than a hundred million degrees Celsius), and composed almost entirely of helium, which is being converted to carbon by nuclear fusion reactions. For reasons not yet understood, the outer atmospheres, or coronas, of core-helium-burning giants are strong X-ray sources. The corona of Beta Ceti, for example, radiates about 2,000 times more X-ray power than does the Sun.

Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory

Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2004/bceti/

Curator: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA

Image Use Policy: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Beta Ceti

Distance

Universescale1
95 light years
Chandra_239_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 0h 43m 35.4s
DEC = -17° 59’ 11.4”
Orientation
North is 6.2° CW
Field of View
1.8 x 1.8 arcminutes
Constellation
Cetus

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Orange Chandra (ACIS) X-ray (X-ray) 826.7 pm
Spectrum_xray1
Orange
Chandra_239_1280
×
ID
239
Subject Category
Subject Name
Beta Ceti
Credits
NASA/CXC
Release Date
2004-12-30
Lightyears
95
Redshift
95
Reference Url
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2004/bceti/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Good
Distance Notes
Facility
Chandra
Instrument
ACIS
Color Assignment
Orange
Band
X-ray
Bandpass
X-ray
Central Wavelength
0.8267
Start Time
2001-06-29T23:29:11
Integration Time
87470
Dataset ID
974
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
10.8975179, -17.9864942
Reference Dimension
2400.0, 2400.0
Reference Pixel
1201.0, 1201.0
Scale
1.27873e-05, 1.2787339e-05
Rotation
-6.23
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
WCS retrieved using CXCs PinpointWCS
Creator (Curator)
Chandra X-ray Observatory
URL
http://chandra.harvard.edu
Name
Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
Email
cxcpub@cfa.harvard.edu
Telephone
617.496.7941
Address
60 Garden St.
City
Cambridge
State/Province
MA
Postal Code
02138
Country
USA
Rights
http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html
Publisher
Chandra X-ray Observatory Center
Publisher ID
chandra
Resource ID
bceti_xray.tif
Metadata Date
2011-10-14T12:58:10-04:00
Metadata Version
1.2
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×
Universescalefull
95 light years

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