Gigantic runaway star blazes through the cosmos

The star Zeta Ophiuchi is twenty times the size of our Sun and flying blind through space. Its runaway path has taken it through a huge clump of space dust, creating this beautiful bow-shaped "wake" of gas and dust.

Zeta Ophiuchi was once the companion of another, even bigger star, but its partner went supernova. This ejected Zeta Ophiuchi from its orbit, shooting it off into open space like a humongous bullet. It is now hurtling through space at 54,000 miles per hour, and the latest part of its cosmic odyssey has taken it through this dust cloud. WISE, NASA's infrared telescope, snapped this amazing image of Zeta Ophiuchi and its "bow shock."

NASA experts explain what's going on here:


[via NASA]