The Outburst of Star V838 Mon | Hubble

The Outburst of Star V838 Mon | Hubble

A morphing sequence of six images taken by Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys shows a CAT-scan-like probe of the three-dimensional structure of the shells of dust surrounding the aging star V838 Monocerotis. The sequence reveals dramatic changes in the way a brilliant flash of light from the star is reflecting off surrounding dusty cloud structures. The effect, called a light echo, has been unveiling never-before-seen dust patterns ever since the star suddenly brightened for several weeks in early 2002.

Credit: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), and The Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI)

Duration: 1 minute

Release Date: February 16, 2016

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