Archivo de imágenes de Hubble

Últimas vistas del Hubble del eco de luz de la estrella V838 Monocerotis

These are the most recent NASA Hubble Space Telescope views of an unusual phenomenon in space called a light echo. Light from a star that erupted nearly five years ago continues propagating outward through a cloud of dust surrounding the star. The light reflects or "echoes" off t...

Fecha
Jan 1, 2006
Misión
Hubble Space Telescope
ID de archivo
hubblesite-images-2006-50-2005-image
Por

These are the most recent NASA Hubble Space Telescope views of an unusual phenomenon in space called a light echo. Light from a star that erupted nearly five years ago continues propagating outward through a cloud of dust surrounding the star. The light reflects or "echoes" off the dust and then travels to Earth.

Because of the extra distance the scattered light travels, it reaches the Earth long after the light from the stellar outburst itself. Therefore, a light echo is an analog of a sound echo produced, for example, when sound from an Alpine yodeler echoes off of the surrounding mountainsides.

The echo comes from the unusual variable star V838 Monocerotis (V838 Mon), located 20,000 light-years away on the periphery of our Galaxy. In early 2002, V838 Mon increased in brightness temporarily to become 600,000 times brighter than our Sun. The reason for the eruption is still unclear.

Hubble has been observing the V838 Mon light echo since 2002. Each new observation of the light echo reveals a new and unique "thin-section" through the interstellar dust around the star. The new images of the light echo were taken with Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys in November 2005 (left) and September 2006 (right). Particularly noticeable in the images are numerous whorls and eddies in the interstellar dust, which are possibly produced by effects of magnetic fields.

Credits

NASA, ESA, and H. Bond (STScI)

Detalles de la imagen

About The Object
Object NameV838 Monocerotis, V838 Mon
Object DescriptionNova-like variable star and surrounding light echo
R.A. Position07h 4m 4.99s
Dec. Position-3° 50' 50.0"
ConstellationMonoceros
DistanceThe star is ~20,000 light-years (~6 kiloparsecs) away.
Dimensions2.5 arcminutes (14 light-years or 4.5 parsecs) wide
About The Data
Data DescriptionThis image was created from HST data from the following proposals: and : H. Bond (STScI), R. Wagner (University of Arizona), R. White (STScI), R. Corradi (Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos), L. Crause (University of Cape Town), M. Dopita (Australian National University), A. Henden (United States Naval Observatory), Z. Levay (STScI), U. Munari (Universita di Padova), N. Panagia (STScI/ESA), W. Sparks (STScI), S. Starrfield (Arizona State University), and B. Sugerman (STScI).
InstrumentHST>ACS/WFC
Exposure DatesNovember 17, 2005 (left) and September 9, 2006 (right)
FiltersF606W (V) and F814W (I)
About The Image
Color InfoThis image is a composite of many separate exposures made by the ACS instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope. Two filters were used to sample broad wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic image. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: F606W (V) Greed: F606W (V) + F814W (I) Red: F814W (I)

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La imagen y el material de referencia se acreditan al archivo oficial de la misión enlazado a continuación.

Ver en NASA.gov

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