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March 26, 2003 02:00 PM (EST)

News Release Number: STScI-2003-10

Hubble Watches Light from Mysterious Erupting Star Reverberate Through Space

March 26, 2003: In January 2002, a dull star in an obscure constellation suddenly became 600,000 times more luminous than our Sun, temporarily making it the brightest star in our Milky Way galaxy. The mysterious star, called V838 Monocerotis, has long since faded back to obscurity. But observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope of a phenomenon called a "light echo" around the star have uncovered remarkable new features. These details promise to provide astronomers with a CAT-scan-like probe of the three-dimensional structure of shells of dust surrounding an aging star.

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Q & A: Understanding the Discovery

  1. 1. What is a light echo?


  3. 2. Why did the star produce this outburst?


    By contrast, V838 Monocerotis did not expel its outer layers. Instead, it grew enormously in size. Its surface temperature dropped to temperatures that were not much hotter than a light bulb. This behavior of ballooning to an enormous size, but not losing its outer layers, is very unusual and completely unlike an ordinary nova explosion.


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Credit: NASA, ESA and H.E. Bond (STScI)