Spitzer telescope detects dust around carbon star

Dust plays an important role in the evolution of galaxies like our Milky Way.

With the help of NASA's Spitzer space telescope researchers have observed dust forming around the carbon star MAG 29, located 280,000 light years away from a smaller galaxy called the Sculptor Dwarf . Stars more massive than the sun end their lives as carbon stars, which in our galaxy are a rich source of dust.

The Sculptor Dwarf contains only 4% of the carbon and other heavy elements in our own galaxy.

The more we can understand the quantity and composition of the dust , the more we can understand how stars and galaxies evolve.