Science fiction movies have really distorted our perception of what different features of the universe look like. It has become so easy to create fake planets, galaxies, and other celestial bodies that it is easy to forget just how incredible our own completely real universe really is. NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope is always here to remind us, and a new snapshot of the distant Veil Nebula shows us that even the most inflated special effects budget can’t be compared to what Mother Nature painted in the cosmos.
Taken a ridiculous 2,100 light-years from Earth, the image is absolutely awe-inspiring in every way. The nebula you see here is the result of the death of a massive star estimated to be 20 times heavier than our own sun. That’s a lot of material being blown into space, and this swirling mass of gases is what’s left about 10,000 years after the star detonated in an explosion that would have decimated everything in its path.
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The Veil Nebula is what is known as a supernova remnant. That just means it’s part of what’s left after a supernova explosion, but what makes this image so interesting is that it’s actually a modified version of the same snapshot shown by NASA six years ago. Additional processing of Hubble’s raw data has given scientists (and thankfully the rest of us) an even more detailed picture of the gas waves.
To create this colorful image, observations were made by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 instrument using five different filters. The new post-processing methods have further improved the details of emissions of doubly ionized oxygen (shown here in blue), ionized hydrogen and ionized nitrogen (here in red), ”explains NASA in a blog post. “The Veil Nebula is the visible part of the nearby Cygnus loop, a supernova remnant formed about 10,000 years ago by the death of a massive star. That star – which was 20 times the mass of the Sun – lived quickly and died young, ending its life with a disastrous release of energy. Despite this stellar violence, the supernova’s shock waves and debris formed the Veil Nebula’s delicate mesh of ionized gas – creating a scene of startling astronomical beauty. “
Nebulae like these may seem like the bookends of a star’s life, but they are really just another step in the life cycle of stars and planets. All these gases will eventually merge into increasingly tighter clumps. Mixed with dust and other material it could become a whole new planetary system. It may take billions of years for that to happen, but this constant recycling of material is what is happening in our universe, and it is awe-inspiring to watch.
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Mike Wehner has been reporting on technology and video games for the past decade, covering the latest news and trends in VR, wearables, smartphones and future technology. Most recently, Mike worked as a Tech Editor at The Daily Dot, appearing in USA Today, Time.com, and numerous other web and print outlets. His love of reporting comes second to his gaming addiction.