Stellar death may spawn solar system
By Ron Cowen
From Seattle, at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society
Material shed by a dying star might give birth to planets. The red dwarf star Mira A, located 350 light-years from Earth, is famous for its wildly varying brightness, which changes by a factor of 1,000 during every 11-month cycle. The elderly star blows off about an Earth-mass of its dusty outer layers every 7 years. About 1 percent of that material is snatched by the star’s close companion, Mira B.