Mira A

Mira A (central component of Mira system) is a red giant star undergoing dramatic pulsations, changing brightness by a factor of 1,000 over a course of 11 months. The star was formerly a yellow main sequence star, but is now dying, shedding dusty outer layers into space.

However, the star has a stellar companion, Mira B; an ordinary yellow dwarf star. This binary partner is capturing about 1% of the material flying off into space from Mira A.

In another million years or so, Mira A will finally stop kicking, and become a white dwarf star. The disk around Mira B will stop gathering material, and begin forming everything it collected into a system of planets.