ESA Science & Technology - Dust shells in IRC+10216 - annotated

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.

Some new features in the circumstellar envelope of IRC+10216 (CW Leonis)are indicated in this annotated image. (A) The arc indicates the location of a bow shock, situated about 1 light year from the star; dust shells, corresponding to the ejection of material from the star at (B) 16 000 years, (C) 12 750 years, (D) 2500 years and (E) 1175 years ago are also indicated.

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.