NASA shows Hubble Telescope image of Supernova

[jpzx]

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has unveiled in stunning detail a small section of the Veil Nebula - expanding remains of a massive star that exploded about 8,000 years ago.

More than 2,000 light years away, in the constellation Cygnus, the Swan, float the remnants of a shattered star.

Once 20 times the size of our sun, the star exploded 8,000 years ago. A new image from the Hubble Space Telescope reveals its drifting, delicate remnants. This image of the Veil Nebula -- so named for the soft, wispy appearance of the supernova's debris -- shows a two-light-year section of the structure, which stretches 110 light-years across.

The image, a composite of six pictures taken by Hubble, show all that remains of the forgotten star -- the brilliant result of a fast moving blast wave from the ancient explosion crashing into a wall of cool, denser interstellar gas.

Each color corresponds to a different element. Red is the glow of hydrogen, showing cooler gas that was excited by the shock collision and has since diffused. A few thin red filaments show where gas was swept into the shock wave at speeds of nearly 1 million miles an hour -- fast enough to travel from Earth to the moon in 15 minutes. The smooth blue arches are oxygen. Sulfur appears as fluffy patches of green.

In a corresponding video, a 3D visualization flies around and into the nebula, showing its thin, rippled surface, which NASA describes as looking from the side like "a crumpled bed sheet."

Astronomers are comparing the new images to ones taken by space telescope in 1997 to see how the nebula has expanded over the last 18 years. The agency said that the supernova that created the Veil Nebula would have been briefly visible on Earth about 8,000 years ago as a bright "new star" in the northern sky.

View media item 1725815

 

[ctidda]

Dope

 

[AEA18]

 

[ksteezy]

We are so insignificant, at the same time I'm so grateful to be alive and see this....so incredibly mind blowing

 

[c hanna]

not only am I amazed by this, I am amazed by the technology that allows us to see this

 

[Bend_The_Knee]

We are so insignificant, at the same time I'm so grateful to be alive and see this....so incredibly mind blowing

 

[Warmachine85]

I love space the universe stars all that. Dope thread op

 

[johnnyredstorm]

Good stuff b

 

[youngwolf]

InB4 NTers ask how do we know this is real.

 

[htg designs]

and that just a small section.
Dope

 

[deleted]

I love it.

 

[wayniac211]

Purple

 

[flyny]

 

[Ox.]

neat.