The European Southern Observatory (ESO) was able to capture an image of the vivid aftermath of a massive star Vela Supernova after it exploded, even though the star died thousands of years ago.
“When we were editing this image, its ethereal and intelligent look immediately made us think this would be a perfect image to release on Halloween,” Juan Carlos Munoz-Mateos, astronomer and media officer at ESO, told CTVNews. ca in an email. “We’re literally seeing the remains of a star that died on impact about 11,000 years ago – it doesn’t get any more eerie than that.”
Captured in a detailed 554 million pixel image, the star remnant is known to be the closest to Earth at just 800 light-years away.
The vivid orange and pink clouds pictured are the result of the star’s outer layers being ejected into the surrounding gas as it explodes.
During their lives, stars fuse simple elements like hydrogen and helium into heavier ones like carbon or oxygen, elements that are then ejected into the interstellar medium when the star dies, according to Munoz-Mateos.
“If this happens through a supernova explosion, like the one that created the structures we see in this image, then even heavier elements are produced during the explosion itself. Later, new stars and planets can form from this enriched gas and will incorporate all these heavy elements.’
Munoz-Mateos says that when astronomers say that humans are “stars,” they are referring to the fact that the complex atoms in our bodies, such as carbon, iron, or calcium, were forged long ago into stars that no longer exist. .
“This is to my mind one of the most profound results that astronomy has ever produced, and it is what I think of when I look at this image.”
