#Star in an obscure constellation suddenly became 600k more luminous than our #Sun, temporarily making it the brightest star in our Milky Way galaxy

Of Dee

Apr 23, 2012  -  Public

Hello...........
NASA, ESA and H.E. Bond, STScI

In January 2002, a dull star in an obscure constellation suddenly became 600,000 times more luminous than our Sun, temporarily making it the brightest star in our Milky Way galaxy. The burst of light from the bizarre star spread into space, reflecting off of surrounding shells of dust to reveal a spectacular set of images. The star, called V838 Monocerotis, has long since faded back to obscurity. But observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope of a phenomenon called a "light echo" around the star uncovered remarkable new features. These details provided astronomers with a CAT-scan-like probe of the three-dimensional structure of shells of dust surrounding an aging star.

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Of Dee

Apr 23, 2012  -  Public

Ha!
NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage STScI/AURA - ESA/Hubble Collaboration
This is a full-field image of the nearby dwarf galaxy NGC 4214. Episodes of star formation are revealed as the galaxy continues to form clusters of new stars from its interstellar gas and dust. This image reveals a sequence of steps in the formation and evolution of stars and star clusters, evident in the glowing gas surrounding...

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Tazh Utmep

Apr 22, 2012  -  Public

The fate of our world, our sun, and the galaxy.

Video by "Science Kicks Ass!" Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sciencekicksass Looks at the 5 billion year future of our solar system. Although it seems to us mere mortals that the universe does not change, it is actually changing very slowly. In about 5 billion years, our sun will have burned off the oceans as it gets large enough to almost engulf the planet in a sea of flames. After the sun shrinks in size, it will turn into a spherical diamond which will truly last forever. As all of this is happening, our galaxy (The Milky Way Galaxy) will collide with its neighbor (the Andromeda Galaxy). Two very beautiful computer simulated galaxy collisions show what we have already observed, and what we predict will eventually happen.

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Kunal Kadu April 22, 2012

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great video. Rocks!!

Tazh Utmep April 22, 2012

Glad you liked it Kunal!

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