In January 2002, astronomers discovered a massive explosion coming from V838 Monocerotis. They initially thought they were witnessing a supernova, but after the initial flash of light began to dim (as expected), it began to brighten again in infrared wavelengths at the beginning of March. After that brightening faded, another one happened in April. While astronomers were certain they weren’t witnessing a supernova, they weren’t quite sure what it actually was. Now the Hubble team have released an absolutely extraordinary 4 years of time-lapse video of the event. Check it out here, and make sure you go full screen.
Posted on: Sat, 14 Jun 2014 18:12:22 +0000