Be stars are weird. They are rapidly rotating stars about 4 to 18 times larger than the sun, but a pleasing blue color surrounded by discs of gas, not unlike the rings of Saturn. They spin so fast that they approach "critical velocity" or the point where they would otherwise blast apart due to centrifugal force overpowering the star's gravity. And what they say about living fast and dying young holds true: these stars only live to be about be about 5 to 10 million years before sputtering out — a short life for a star.
These fascinating celestial bodies have captivated astronomers for generations, in no small part because of their mysterious nature. Among other things, astronomers were puzzled by how Be stars — which were first discovered by Italian astronomer Angelo Secchi in 1866 — were even formed in the first place.
