Notes to editors

IRC+10216 is the infrared catalogue name of CW Leonis, a red giant star in the constellation of Leo, the lion. Surveys conducted in the 1960s showed it to be the brightest star in the sky at a wavelength of 10 micrometres, roughly 20 times the wavelength of visible light.

Warm water vapour in the sooty outflow from a luminous carbon star by L Decin et al. is published in Nature on September 2, 2010. More information can be found here.