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This delicate shell, photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope, appears to float serenely in the depths of space, but this apparent calm hides an inner turmoil. The gaseous envelope formed as the expanding blast wave and ejected material from a supernova tore through the nearby interstellar medium.
The Hubble Space Telescope has gifted us this festive-looking image of a bauble of gas serenely floating in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a Milky Way satellite galaxy that's about 160,000 light years from Earth.
This is no mere Christmas ornament, though. The delicate shell of gas hides the violent turmoil behind its creation: The envelope formed as the expanding blast wave and ejected material from the explosion of a dying star tore through the nearby interstellar medium.
According astronomers with the Space Telescope Science Institute, the explosion was a particularly violent supernova known as a Type Ia, which results when a white dwarf star in a binary system robs its partner of material. Once the greedy white dwarf finally takes on more mass than it can handle, it violently explodes.
The ripples in the shell's surface may be caused either by subtle variations in the density of the surrounding interstellar gas — or are perhaps driven from within the bauble by fragments from the initial explosion. The ornament-like bubble, called SNR B0509-67.5, is 23 light-years across and expanding at more than 11 million miles (18 million kilometers) an hour, according the analysis team.
Astronomers say the supernova occurred about 400 years ago and might have been visible to Southern Hemisphere observers around the year 1600, though there are no records of a "new star" — as supernova were erroneously called — in the direction of the Large Megallanic Cloud near that time.
Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys observed the supernova remnant on Oct. 28, 2006, with a filter that isolates light from the glowing hydrogen seen in the expanding shell. To make the image shown here, these observations were combined with visible-light images of the surrounding star field that were imaged by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 on Nov. 4 of this year.
More information on supernovae:
- Physicists replicate a supernova in laboratory
- Supernova blast wave could shape galaxy evolution
- Scientists identify brightest supernova
- Star death may explain universe's biggest bangs
- New type of supernova discovered
- Supernova nightmares
- New risk to Earth from supernova explosions
John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by hitting the "like" button on the Cosmic Log Facebook page or following msnbc.com's science editor, Alan Boyle, on Twitter (@b0yle).
Leave a Comment:
Try hanging that on your Christmas tree!! Awesome!
alien cicar blowing a ring
I think it's only since Hubble that I've gained an appreciation of just how dynamic the universe is.
My thoughts went in that direction too, Hubble has done some amazing shots out there.
If it is 160,000 light years from us and the super nova happened 400 years ago, how is it that we are seeing it so soon? How can we see something that happened 400 years ago, if light from that event takes 160,000 years to get here? What am I missing here?
At the rate it is expanding, I wonder if it could get to us any time soon?
The article says it's 160,000 light years away, so I don't think you have to worry :P
If it's 160,000 light years away, then how did the light reach us after only about 400 years from the event??
The light reached us 400 years ago, but the event occurred 160,400 years ago. The way we see it now was as it existed 160,000 years ago and its present structure is probably vastly different.
"Astronomers say the supernova occurred about 400 years ago and might have been visible to Southern Hemisphere observers around the year 1600,"
I was thinking the same thing Topaulh, next time Dr. go back to the text before offering a simple answer. If the article is wrong about that statement, what makes you think they aren't wrong about the 160,000 Lt Yr statement.
Perhaps your god has a simpler explanation.
Waitting for more interstellar things,it is really amazing!!
Im am constantly amazed at the images sent back by Hubble, breathtaking doesnt do it justice. Money very well spent! I use dozens of their photos for my desktop slideshow, along with pics from all over the world taken from Google earth. Totally awesome stuff. This is definately one more pic to add to my folder. :)
Keep'em coming Hubble and NASA. Great work you do!
The 400 year / 160000 year number doesn't make sense. Most likely it was supposed to be 160 light years away as this supernova is in our Galaxy!
After posting my comment above, I just realized how dumb I sounded. The explosion is 400 years in the making and therefore would have been visible to us 400 years ago. Just that the explosion happend 160,400 years ago is what we have to know and the ring hubble photographed is 2006 was what it was 160,000 years ago in 2006. Phew, sorry for making a uneducated comment earlier.
Thanks Cosmic Log, a truly beautiful and terrifying sight.
the Event could NOT have occured 400 years ago AND be visible on Earth in 1600A.D. , given that the event took place 160,000 light years from Earth. More likely, the event took place 160,400 years ago and was then VISIBLE from Earth as of 1600A.D. The image/light would take 160,000 years to travel from there to here.
Ceteris paribus, the press release should have correctly stated that the age of the supernova was approx 160,400 years old, not 400 years old.
This is sensational! Makes one realize just how "organized" our universe is. That this can happen and not take out everything with it, and we can sit here and enjoy the splendor. Do the words "intelligent design" mean anything to anyone?
In a word.......no.
We'll all know for sure in 2012 when it all comes to an end PhilS hehehe. And Darth, that comment made me role out of my chair laughing. I agree. (NO) If I were responsible for this "Intelligent design" then I wouldn't have made it so complicated to even exist.
A 'Halo' to you Phoehammer. You got my vote. :)
DANG! I didn't even realize that! We've actually discovered a Halo. We had better get to it before the Covenant do. I'm ready to role as soon as I'm done with Reach.
Same question as several have asked above. If the the star was 160,000 light years away how could anyone have seen it instantly in 1600....Let alone see it today? Shouldn,t we be waiting another 159,600 years to see this event? Maybe the author means that the event became visible 400 years ago and if so, how was that determined? By the rate of expansion of the "bauble"? I don't get the comment regarding "organized". I see beautiful chaos (the bauble is not perfectly round but has a shape effected by interactions with surronding gas or fragments from the explosion). If not for chaos, the big bang could not have resulted in the formation of stars because the primordial matter would have expanding at the same speed, in the same direction forever without ever coalescing into hydrogen clouds and ultimately stars.
Obviously the event didn't occur 400 years ago. It just became visable on Earth as a supernova 400 years ago, as light that had been on it way, so to speak" 160,000 years ago from the large Magelenic Cloud.
Obviously the event didn't occur 400 years ago. It just became visable on Earth 400 years ago as a Supernova. The light had been traveling from the Large Magelenic Cloud for 160,000 years (from the time of the actual event) and just reached us 400 years ago.
It would have been visible ~400 years ago. It's not stated, but it's implied, and supported by the claim that it may have been seen by those in the southern hemisphere around the year 1600. Besides, high velocity travel tends to distort time due to Relativity.
Good question Abbs-2800167:
I think the answer is that, the explosion happened approximately 160,400 years ago and 400 years ago the light of that explosion reached Earth, the image from Hubble is the light that has reached us 400 years after the explosion....