NASA's Hubble Telescope sees huge exploding star disappear into the void

Titanic, runaway thermonuclear explosion. A disappearing act. Nature’s atomic bomb. NASA sure knows how to describe a supernova, the final moments of a star’s existence.

a star filled sky: Hubble observed a supernova on the outer edge of spiral galaxy NGC 2525. NASA, ESA, and A. Riess (STScI/JHU) and the SH0ES team Acknowledgment: M. Zamani (ESA/Hubble)

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Hubble observed a supernova on the outer edge of spiral galaxy NGC 2525. NASA, ESA, and A. Riess (STScI/JHU) and the SH0ES team Acknowledgment: M. Zamani (ESA/Hubble)

Seventy-million light-years away in the scenic spiral galaxy NGC 2525, a white dwarf exploded and the Hubble Space Telescope witnessed its last days. NASA and the European Space Agency, which jointly run Hubble, released a rare time-lapse of the supernova’s fading brightness.

The space telescope first started watching the supernova, named SN 2018gv, in February 2018. The time-lapse covers almost a year of Hubble observations.

The supernova initially outshone the other stars in its host galaxy. “When a star unleashes as much energy in a matter of days as our sun does in several billion years, you know it’s not going to remain visible for long,” NASA said in a statement on Thursday.

Hubble observed the supernova while scientists were working to better understand the expansion rate of the universe. “More than just providing celestial fireworks, supernovae can be used as milepost markers to measure distances to galaxies,” NASA said. “This yardstick is needed to calculate how quickly galaxies appear to be flying apart from one another, which in turn provides an age estimate for the universe.”

a star in the middle of the night sky

© NASA, ESA, and A. Riess (STScI/JHU) and the SH0ES team Acknowledgment: M. Zamani (ESA/Hubble)

While supernovae are relatively common across the span of the universe, Hubble’s time-lapse gives us a rare peek at the dramatic process along with a poignant reminder that even stars aren’t permanent.

The NASA and ESA Hubble space telescope is on a captivating quest to image all 110 space objects listed in a catalog that originated with French astronomer Charles Messier. Messier’s catalog dates back to the 1700s and is full of gorgeous galaxies, fascinating star clusters and stately nebulae. NASA released 12 new Messier catalog Hubble images on March 16. Hubble has now observed 93 of the 110 objects as of early 2018.The M90 spiral galaxy is quite a looker in this Hubble space telescope image from NASA. M90 hosts a trillion stars, which can be hard to imagine.While most of the galaxies found in the Virgo cluster are moving away from our home galaxy of the Milky Way, Messier 90 is actually heading in our direction. Don’t worry. It’s still about 59 million light-years away from our planet.

Before we dive deeper into the 12 new Messier catalog images from Hubble, it’s worth looking back at one of the telescope’s most famous views of a Messier object. NASA released this fresh look at the “Pillars of Creation” in the Eagle Nebula in 2015. The Eagle Nebula is also know as Messier 16. The astronomer added it to his catalog in 1764.

This round, dense collection of stars is known as the globular star cluster Messier 75, which astronomer Charles Messier added to his astronomical catalog in 1780. The center of the cluster houses 400,000 stars. M75 is located in the constellation Sagittarius and can be seen from Earth with binoculars and telescopes. NASA used Hubble space telescope cameras to create this composite image.

Astronomer Charles Messier discovered the spiral galaxy M58 in 1779. NASA says it “was one of the first galaxies recognized to have a spiral shape.” M58 resides in the constellation Virgo at a far-flung distance of about 62 million light-years from Earth.The missing black chunks are due to the design of Hubble’s camera. “It shows about half of M58, with the galaxy’s core and arms filling the image,” NASA says.

NASA’s Hubble telescope got a good look at this scenic barred spiral galaxy known as Messier 95. It’s one of 110 space objects included in the Messier catalog, which is named for French astronomer Charles Messier.M95 resides in the Leo constellation at a distance of 33 million light-years from Earth. “Its spiral arms host a flurry of star birth activity and sparkle with the light of countless young, blue stars,” NASA says.

This glowing image from NASA’s Hubble telescope shows the Messier 86 galaxy, which has an elliptical shape. Astronomer Charles Messier first discovered M86 in 1781.”Of all the galaxies in Messier’s catalog, M86 is moving the fastest in our direction but is still approximately 52 million light-years away from Earth,” NASA says.

Messier 88 is a classic spiral galaxy with a luminous central region that really stands out in this Hubble space telescope image. “M88 contains around 400 billion stars and is traveling away from our galaxy,” NASA notes.Astronomer Charles Messier discovered M88 in 1781 on a particularly busy night when he also found eight other objects that he added to his famous catalog. The Hubble space telescope is working on imaging all 110 space objects in the Messier catalog.

A very intimidating black hole at the center of the Messier 59 galaxy measures in at about 270 million times as massive as our sun. M59 is in the Virgo constellation. Only about half of M59 can be seen in this image, NASA notes.

If you’re into “irregularly shaped globular clusters,” then Messier 62 is the place for you. M62’s dense core hosts 150,000 stars. A globular cluster is a tightly packed spherical collection of stars. Astronomer Charles Messier discovered M62 in 1771. NASA released this Hubble image of M62 in March 2018 as an addition to its scenic collection of astronomical objects listed in the Messier catalog.

Astronomer Charles Messier discovered the elliptical galaxy M89 in 1781. It was one of eight galaxies he spotted in the Virgo cluster that year. A supermassive black hole sits at its center. “It was the first galaxy discovered to have an extended envelope, which means that it has a larger region of light surrounding it than other elliptical galaxies, most likely because of its high number of stars and globular clusters,” NASA notes.This Hubble space telescope image shows most of the galaxy and you can even spot the edge of a spiral galaxy lower in the picture.

The Messier 108 galaxy has a fun nickname: the Surfboard galaxy. When seen by telescope, the barred spiral galaxy has no obvious core or bulge, which gives it a passing resemblance to a surfboard shape.This image is part of the Hubble space telescope’s project imaging the 110 objects listed in the Messier catalog. M108 can be found in the Ursa Major constellation.

This might look like a glitter-flecked linoleum tile, but it’s actually a Hubble space telescope view of the Messier 110 galaxy. NASA describes it as an elliptical galaxy with a smooth and nearly featureless structure.The dark splotches are huge clouds of dust and gas. Astronomer Charles Messier discovered M110 in 1773. As of early 2018, Hubble has imaged 93 out of 110 objects listed in the Messier catalog, which includes galaxies and nebulae.

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NASA’s Hubble Telescope sees huge exploding star disappear into the void