DIY Photography

Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

New Hubble timelapse shows a supernova brighter than any star in its galaxy

Oct 2, 2020 by Dunja Djudjic Leave a Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Hubble Space Telescope has been in space for over 30 years and has treated us with plenty of awe-inspiring images. This time, the telescope has captured quite a firework. It took a photo and timelapse of a bright supernova outshining every star in its galaxy and unleashing the energy of 5 billion Suns. 

NASA writes that supernovas aren’t that rare: there’s approximately one per second exploding out there in the universe. However, what is rare is getting a timelapse movie of a supernova fading into obscurity. 

This incredible firework took place in a galaxy far, far away. More precisely, in the spiral galaxy NGC 2525, 70 million light-years away from Earth. Hubble captured its timelapse as a part of a program to measure the universe’s expansion rate. “More than just providing celestial fireworks, supernovae can be used as milepost markers to measure distances to galaxies,” NASA explains. “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.” 

NASA explains further that the explosion originated from a white dwarf accreting material from its companion star. “This pileup of gas eventually triggered a runaway thermonuclear explosion, making the dwarf nature’s own atomic bomb.” The blast unleashed the energy that’s equal to the radiance of 5 billion of our Suns. Five. Billion! And the timelapse above lasts only a few seconds, yet it compresses nearly one year’s worth of Hubble observations. It brings together observations taken from February 2018 to February 2019. 

[via Engadget; image credits NASA, ESA, and A. Riess (STScI/JHU) and the SH0ES team] 

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Happy 30th birthday, Hubble: NASA adds 30 breathtaking new photos to its Hubble collection This gorgeous Hubble photo shows a galaxy 150 million light-years away from us This incredible new image from Hubble shows a star in a battle for self destruction Hubble’s latest photo of Jupiter shows off the gas giant in all its glory

Filed Under: Inspiration Tagged With: Hubble, NASA, space, space exploration, supernova

About Dunja Djudjic

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

« Google turns off automatic photo enhancements to stop you from feeling bad about your selfies
The latest Nikon Z6 and Z7 firmware will mess up your AF fine-tuning »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • SpaceX shares unique view of Earth in latest video
  • Get ready to photograph two total solar eclipses this year
  • How I started (and succeeded) photographing space from my backyard
  • Insta360’s new teaser says they’re entering the gimbal market
  • Users report blurry photos from Samsung Galaxy S23/S23+ cameras

Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy