Something has caught the eye of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Galaxy Evolution Explorer. The culprit: a red-giant named Mira. As seen in the image, the star was seen exhibiting a trailing tail-like material from the outer envelope over 13 light-years in length.

The phenomenon was detected recently even though, according to studies, the formation of the tail-like streak has been present over the past 30,000 years. The only reason why this wasn't noticed before was the fact that the emission radiated by Mira was caused by ultraviolet light; a source that the Galaxy Evolution Explorer is very sensitive to.

Also, because Mira moves at a comparatively faster rate than most red giants, the appearance of a bow shock has also been noted. This build up of gas in front of the star is thought to be the cause of its turbulent, tail-like appearance as it trails across the cosmos.

Mira was similar to our own sun billions of years ago. As such, this phenomenon may give a foreshadowing as to the future of our own local star. It has been theorized that upon the expulsion of all its remaining planetary gases into space, Mira will eventually form a colorful shell called a planetary nebula. In time, once the nebula fades, the burnt-out core of the star will be the only thing remaining left of it and thus forming a white dwarf.

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology were the ones responsible for this discovery through the Galaxy Evolution Explorer. James D. Neill of Caltech had this to say regarding Mira:

It's amazing to discover such a startlingly large and important feature of an object that has been known and studied for over 400 years. This is exactly the kind of surprise that comes from a survey mission like the Galaxy Evolution Explorer.