Light Echos in Space

[Pyrotex]

Here is a marvelous 4-frame "video" of the light echos surrounding supernova 1987-A. Like ripples in a pond. The supernova acts like a "flash" on your camera, sending out a thin "shell" of intense light in all directions. As this shell expands, it collides with clouds of gas or dust and reflects. We see the reflections as thin rings around the supernova that get larger each year.

 

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060125.html

[InfiniteNow]

Yeah, I saw that myself this morning (love love love the APOD site). It's amazing that the frames shown are seperated by an entire year ( I think they show btw 2000 and 2004)... not milliseconds like the movies we watch.

 

Ah, just a splash in the cosmic pond...