WR 104

WR 104 is a Wolf- Rayet star, which was discovered in 1998. It is about 8,000 light-years away from Earth. It is in this star is a binary star system with a companion class OB. Both stars orbit within 220 days, and by influencing their solar wind creates a spiral pattern with an area of ​​about 200 AU.

Description

The material of the spiral is dust, which would not normally form due to the intense radiation emanating from WR 104, but is made possible by the presence of its companion star, as in the regions where the solar winds of the massive stars collide the material is sufficiently compacted to form dust, wherein the rotation of the system is the recognizable spiral pattern.

Some optical measurements indicated out that the axis of rotation of WR 104 to about 16 ° pointing towards Earth. This would have consequences for the Earth consequence, since such explosions are often based jets from their rotational poles at an expected Hypernova this star. One of these consequences might be even a gamma-ray burst, and it is currently not possible to predict this event with safety. Recent spectroscopic data, however, indicate that the rotation axis of the star rather 30-40 ° pointing away from the earth.

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