Be amazed to witness the celestial fireworks from the supernova explosion

Hubble image of celestial fireworks

A newly released image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows shreds of the colorful supernova remnant DEM L 190. The delicate sheets and intricate filaments are debris from the cataclysmic death of a massive star that once lived in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. As a matter of fact, DEM L 190 – also known as LMC N49 – is the brightest supernova remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud. It shines with an apparent magnitude of +12.7, despite being approximately 160,000 light-years away from Earth in the constellation Dorado.

A newly released image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows celestial fireworks from a supernova remnant known as DEM L 190, which is the brightest supernova remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Image via NASA/ ESA/ Hubble/ S. Kulkarni/ Y. Chu.

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Data from 2 instruments

To clarify, this new image combines data from two different Hubble instruments. The first one is the retired Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2). The second instrument is its replacement, the more powerful Wide Field Camera 3. Nevertheless, during its operational lifetime, WFPC2 produced many memorable images.

First, astronomers used the two WFPC2 investigations of DEM L 190 as a natural laboratory to study the interaction between supernova remnants and the interstellar medium, the tenuous mixture of gas and dust that lies between stars. Then, in the second study, astronomers turned to Hubble to pinpoint the origin of a soft gamma-ray repeater, an enigmatic object lurking in DEM L 190 that repeatedly emits high-energy bursts of gamma rays.

By the way, Hubble also imaged DEM L 190 in 2003. So this newly released image incorporates additional data with improved image-processing techniques, bringing out more detail of the supernova remnant.

Bottom line: A new Hubble image shows celestial fireworks from supernova remnant DEM L 190. The supernova remnant resembles the smoke and streamers of summer fireworks.