Colorful, ghostly remnants float in space where a massive star exploded 11,000 years ago.
The Vela supernova remnant, named after the constellation Vela, is all that remains after the star has reached the end of its life.
Clouds of pink and orange gas mark the spot 800 light-years away from Earth, making it one of the closest known points where this has occurred. A light year is about 9.7 trillion kilometers.
When the star went supernova, shock waves moved through the surrounding layers of gas released by the star.
The energetic waves compressed the gas and created thread-like filaments that resemble cobwebs.
In a new image of the Vela supernova remnant, captured by the VLT Survey Telescope at the European Southern Observatory in Chile, the glowing threads of gas appear to glow from the heat of the shock waves.
The hauntingly beautiful images of the spot where the star died were aptly released on Halloween, this October 31st.
Within the remnant is a dense neutron star, or pulsar, that spins rapidly and releases beams of light like a celestial beacon, but is located outside the region shown in the image.
Nine full moons can fit into the detailed perspective, and the image reflects only part of the giant cloud.
The European Southern Observatory also shared detailed views of intriguing features within the mosaic. The 12 highlights magnify different aspects of the bright stars and gas clouds in the region.
The image, which contains 554 million pixels, was captured by the telescope’s wide-field OmegaCAM. The camera is capable of capturing images using several different filters that allow for varying wavelengths of light and colors – hence the magenta, blue, green and red colors in the image.
The VLT Survey Telescope is one of the largest telescopes that scans the night sky using visible light, helping astronomers unlock the secrets of star formation and death.
Source: CNN Brasil
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