Compared to some stars, our Sun is something of a wimp. It just sits there all by itself, shining all the time, hardly changing in temperature, brightness, or mass. But not all stars are so boring. I present to you this amazing image of the star HD 87643:
[Click to embiggen.] HD 87643 is the star near the middle of the picture, surrounded by the weird glowing material. And OK, so the name of the star is a little boring, but the star itself is very cool indeed. Or hot. And it's not even one star. HD 87643 is what's called a B[e] giant star. The B means it's a hot star, and since it's a giant (or possibly even a supergiant) it will one day end its life in a titanic supernova explosion. The [e] means its spectrum has emission lines. Usually, when you take the spectrum of a ...
