Light echo? We Like the sound of that!⁣ :⁣

For reasons unknown, the surface of the star V838 Mon expanded so much, it became the brightest star in the Milky Way Galaxy in January 2002. Then, just as suddenly, it faded. A stellar flash like this had never been seen before. During its outburst, the star’s intrinsic brightness flared to roughly 600,000 times that of our Sun. The star may have swallowed a companion star or planet, triggering the burst. Although the V838 Mon flash appears to expel material into space, what is seen in the above image from the @NASAHubble Space Telescope is an outwardly moving light echo of the bright flash.⁣

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In a light echo, light from the flash is reflected by successively more distant rings in the complex array of ambient interstellar dust that already surrounded the star. V838 Mon lies about 20,000 light years away toward the constellation of the unicorn (Monoceros), while the light echo above spans about six light years in diameter.⁣

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Image description: A cloud of tan dust surrounds a red burst of light from its center. Large blue stars with four diffraction spikes dot the foreground, while smaller blue stars dot the background. ⁣

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Credit: NASA, the Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI) and ESA⁣

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#NASA #Space #NASAHubble #Telescope #Astronomy #Stars #Light #Echo

[ INFORMATION DATA: 16 April 2024 ]

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