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Published 14:51 IST, September 1st 2020

Hubble telescope of NASA captures striking Cygnus Supernova blasts 20X larger than sun

NASA’s hubble telescope captures striking visuals of Supernova blasts which appear like a blanket of lights but 20 times massive and fierce than the sun.

Reported by: Shrishaila Bhandary
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The National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA recently shared striking pictures of one-of-its-kind supernova blast as clicked by NASA’s 1990 telescope, Hubble. The orbiting telescope shared stunning views of what looked like computer graphics. However, in reality, the pictures were of a dying star which shined one last time in space.

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Hubble captures stunning views in space

The space telescope captured ‘veils draped across the sky’ but actually it was a dying star, 400 light-years away, by the name Cygnus supernova. The blast particles and waves formed the luminescent lines captured by the Hubble. A supernova or the explosion of a star is a rare occurrence which has happened another light year away. Only a high-end telescope captures such an occurrence and the phenomena are invisible to the naked sky.

Further descriptions of Cygnus Supernova blast mentioned in the official website of Hubble-

"While appearing as a delicate and light veil draped across the sky, this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope actually depicts a small section of the Cygnus supernova blast wave, located around 2400 light-years away. The name of the supernova remnant comes from its position in the northern constellation of Cygnus (The Swan), where it covers an area 36 times larger than the full moon."

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Hubble Space Telescope (@nasahubble) on


"The original supernova explosion blasted apart a dying star about 20 times more massive than our Sun between 10 000 and 20 000 years ago. Since then, the remnant has expanded 60 light-years from its centre. The shockwave marks the outer edge of the supernova remnant and continues to expand at around 350 kilometres per second. The interaction of the ejected material and the low-density interstellar material swept up by the shockwave forms the distinctive veil-like structure seen in this image."

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More about the Hubble 

Hubble telescope which provides NASA and European Space Agencies with new and moving elements from the atmosphere was launched in the year 1990 to orbit around the earth. The large telescope captures stunning imagery from spiral galaxies, planets, bright bodies to supernova blasts and weighs about two adult elephants, as per the official website of NASA.

According to the website, the Hubble travels along the orbit which is 547 kilometres or 340 miles from earth’s surface level. NASA’s Hubble is about the size of a large school bus, as per NASA’s website.

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Image Source: NASA Instagram

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14:51 IST, September 1st 2020