Article Posted on : - Dec 15, 2010

The cosmic baule spotted by Hubble telescope. A ESA/Hubble Photo

PARIS (BNS): A celestial bubble of gas floating in the depths of space has caught the attention of astronomers.

The ‘festive bauble’, named SNR 0509, resembles an ornament hung from the branches of a Christmas tree. It has been spotted by the Hubble Space Telescope in the neighbouring small galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud which lies about 160 000 light-years from Earth.

Around 23 light years across and expanding at over 18 million km/h (5,000 kms per second), the delicate pristine shell of gas has been formed in the aftermath of a supernova explosion that took place four centuries ago. The gaseous envelope formed as the expanding blast wave and ejected material from the supernova tore through the nearby interstellar medium.

The bauble appears to be floating serenely in space, but this serenity hides an inner turmoil. Ripples seen in the shell’s surface may be caused either by subtle variations in the density of the ambient interstellar gas, or possibly be driven from the interior by fragments from the initial explosion.

According to astronomers, the explosion that gave birth to the cosmic bauble is an example of an especially energetic and bright variety of supernova. Known as Type Ia, such supernova events are thought to result when a white dwarf star in a binary system robs its partner of material, taking on more mass than it is able to handle, so that it eventually explodes.

The cosmic bubble has been snapped in a series of observations made between 2006 and 2010.