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Jun 11, 2011

Extraordinary Hubble Photo Shows a Gigantic Exploding Death Star In Space—or Homer Simpson

Astronomers are in awe as they witness the evolution of Supernova 1987A using the Hubble Space Telescope. I don't blame them. It's awesome indeed. The actual explosion was first detected in February 1987, in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Supernova 1987A—NASA, can we call this Flabbergasting Giganormous Pink Glitter Ring of Glowing Awesomeness?—is "the closest supernova explosion witnessed in almost 400 years." The debris sprayed by this extremely violent stellar event started to fade away as it moved out of the center, but now it's impacting the surrounding ring "creating powerful shock waves that generate X-rays observed with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory."






6 comments:

Dave said...

Supernovas are a massive event. Its great that the Hubble allows us to view them. Good post.

Whitelight said...

Great post!

charlie said...

Doh!! Really love the Hubble photos .. awesome

phosports said...

wow, that is so cool. great picture

Bob Ross Afro Blog said...

That's so cool. Even death stars appreciate The Simpsons.

Moobeat said...

cool stuff