New images of IRC+10216, obtained with the PACS instrument on the Herschel Space Observatory, have revealed never before seen dust shells extending out to a distance of 320 arc seconds from the central star.
This image was obtained at 100 micron and shows a field of view of 16 arc minutes × 11 arc minutes.
The 6 radial spikes are due to the support structure of the secondary mirror.
Photo credit: ESA/PACS/MESS Consortia
Notes: For an annotated version of the above image, see here. For more information, see Herschel Probes the Dusty History of a Giant Star. IRC+10216, aka CW Leonis, has been discussed on MinSEx before; see Water Around CW Leonis.
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