Astronomy Picture of the Day - Light Echoes from V838 Mon

APOD.NASA.gov ^ | 26 Jun, 2022 | Image Credit: NASA, ESA, H. E. Bond (STScI)

[MtnClimber]

Explanation: What caused this outburst of V838 Mon? For reasons unknown, star V838 Mon's outer surface suddenly greatly expanded with the result that it became one of the brighter stars in the Milky Way Galaxy in early 2002. Then, just as suddenly, it shrunk and faded. A stellar flash like this had never been seen before -- supernovas and novas expel matter out into space. Although the V838 Mon flash appears to expel material into space, what is seen in the featured image from the Hubble Space Telescope is actually an outwardly expanding light echo of the original flash. In a light echo, light from the flash is reflected by successively more distant surfaces 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.

[MtnClimber]

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For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.

[MtnClimber]

[MtnClimber]

Pinging the APOD list.

🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔

[GaltAdonis]

I see a nautilus in space.
Or maybe a comet chasing it's own tail.
A confused shrimp?
Dunno...

[Jamestown1630]

Gasp! The Eye of Sauron!

[Jamestown1630]

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44379/the-chambered-nautilus

[GaltAdonis]

When I first learned of the nautilus and saw pictures of them
- when I was a little boy (maybe 5 or 6 years old) - I was amazed
by them. I thought they were the coolest thing in the world.

Of course I was influenced by the narrator of the documentary
that I had watched - he thought they were super-cool also.

That documentary is over 50 years old now - I wonder if I can find it online.
I'll look whenever I have time and think of it again.

[DannyTN]

If it flashes once, it's a wardrome malfuction.

If it flashes repeatedly...

[Jamestown1630]

I became amazed with them too. I collected a few, and one that's bisected so you can see the inside and the creature's successive 'houses':

[Jamestown1630]

https://www.wardrome.com/

[GaltAdonis]

Very Cool!
Thanks!

[Red Badger]

SIDE VIEW..................

[Red Badger]

[MtnClimber]

Oh no. The planet recycler is coming for Earf.

[Red Badger]

Looks like a giant telescope...................

[minnesota_bound]

That kind of looks like Donald Trumps hair... : )