Bubbles in Space

This delicate bubble is the remnant of a supernova, SNR 0509-67.5, which is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, about 160,000 light-years from Earth.

Hubble Supernova Bubble Resembles Holiday Ornament

Source: Hubblesite.org

The nebula is about 23 light-years across and is expanding at more than 11 million miles per hour.  The image was provided by Hubble and augmented below with data from the Chandra X-ray observatory.  The blue and green gossamer structure in the center is material heated by the expanding shock-wave of the supernova, which occurred almost 400 years ago.

Optical/X-ray Composite Image of Supernova Remnant 0509-67.5

Source: Hubblesite.org

See the Hubble site for more information and images.

Till next time,

RC Davison

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