<\/p>\n Mira A is in the late stages of its life, a red giant<\/a> swelling and losing mass as it prepares to fade into a white dwarf. While stars of this type routinely shed material<\/a>, the sheer scale and symmetry of Mira A’s recent outflow surprised astronomers, according to a new study.<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n “We were very surprised to see this structure,” study lead author Theo Khouri, an astronomer from Chalmers University, said in a statement<\/a>. “We also see that the star’s illumination of the surrounding dust varies in an unexpected way, which implies that the star acts like a lighthouse \u2014 illuminating its environment unevenly.”<\/p>\n The expelled matter amounts to roughly seven Earth masses<\/a>, far more than scientists would expect, with gas filling the heart’s interior and dust outlining the edges. The star’s light also sweeps across the cloud like a cosmic beacon, causing the heart-shaped plume to glow as if it were radiating love into space.<\/p>\n “We know that stars like Mira lose mass as they age, but we did not expect it to happen in such large and sudden bursts,” Khouri added.<\/p>\n The discovery was made using data from the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope<\/a> (VLT) and the Atacama Large Millimeter\/submillimeter Array<\/a> (ALMA) in Chile. By combining observations taken between 2015 and 2023, astronomers were able to map the two large clouds that form the heart-shaped plume in stunning detail, revealing not just the shape but the dynamics of the ejected material.<\/p>\n \n The heart-shaped cloud is seen on this graph in the study. (Image credit: Khouri et al.)<\/p>\n Such asymmetrical, massive ejections challenge previous models of how stars like Mira A lose mass in their final stages, offering a new window into the complex deaths of stars<\/a> and how they enrich the cosmos with elements that will one day form new stars and planets, according to the study.<\/p>\n “We will keep monitoring the expanding cloud around Mira A, as it is becoming so large that it may start to affect its companion star, the white dwarf<\/a> Mira B,” Khouri said. “It is already gathering some of the material ejected by Mira A.”<\/p>\n The heart-shaped outflow from Mira A offers a romantic spectacle for Valentine’s Day, and reminds us that space is full of striking, endearing cosmic creations.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/qajJFYHBJ3eRoZVmYo3KKS.png\")
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