The red giant pulsating carbon star CW Leonis as seen by the PACS and SPIRE cameras and spectrometers on board Herschel.
The star itself is too bright to be seen well but it is releasing material in a violent stellar wind, some of which is seen in a 'bow shock' to the left of the star in this image.
Observations have shown that water vapor is being formed deep down near the surface of the star; a place where it was previously thought to be impossible to appear.
This means that the stellar wind must be much more 'clumpy' than previously foreseen, with some regions having a much weaker wind than others.
This allows ultraviolet light from interstellar space to reach the deeper, warmer regions and trigger the creation of water vapor. Credit: ESA / KU Leuven / LUTH / Observatoire de Paris
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