Image: Kappa Cassiopeiae

Description: Kappa Cassiopeiae, or HD 2905 to astronomers, is a runaway star—a massive, hot supergiant gone rogue. What really makes the star stand out in this image is the surrounding, streaky red glow of material in its path. Such structures are called bow shocks, and they can often be seen in front of the fastest, most massive stars in the galaxy. Bow shocks form where the magnetic fields and wind of particles flowing off a star collide with the diffuse, and usually invisible, gas and dust that fill the space between stars. How these shocks light up tells astronomers about the conditions around the star and in space. Slow-moving stars like our sun have bow shocks that are nearly invisible at all wavelengths of light, but fast stars like Kappa Cassiopeiae create shocks that can be seen by Spitzer’s infrared detectors. Incredibly, this shock is created about 4 light-years ahead of Kappa Cassiopeiae, showing what a sizable impact this star has on its surroundings.
Title: Kappa Cassiopeiae
Credit: http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/5730-sig14-003-The-Shocking-Behavior-of-a-Speedy-Star
Author: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No