For unknown reasons, the star V838 Mon brightly expanded, making it the greatest star in the Milky Way in 2002, suddenly fading soon after. In this stellar flash, supernovas and novas appeared to expel matter into the universe. However, what actually happened is that this matter formed an outwardly moving "light echo." In a light echo, light from the flash is reflected by successively more distant rings of interstellar dust that already surrounded the star. V8383 Mon is about 20,000 light-years away in the constellation Monoceros.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
3.7 Light Echoes fro V838 Mon
For unknown reasons, the star V838 Mon brightly expanded, making it the greatest star in the Milky Way in 2002, suddenly fading soon after. In this stellar flash, supernovas and novas appeared to expel matter into the universe. However, what actually happened is that this matter formed an outwardly moving "light echo." In a light echo, light from the flash is reflected by successively more distant rings of interstellar dust that already surrounded the star. V8383 Mon is about 20,000 light-years away in the constellation Monoceros.
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