This Dead Star With a Glowing Shock Wave Shouldn’t Exist

A vibrant display of glowing gases around a dead star is fueled by a mysterious source that scientists can’t explain, in a phenomenon without precedent.

As stars move through space, they push away material and create a so-called bow shock ahead of them akin to a curved ridge of water that forms in front of a moving boat. Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, a team of astronomers found a shock wave that shouldn’t be there.

The star RXJ0528+2838 is a white…