27.5.08

Light Cavern

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In January 2002, NASA reported that, "a dull star in an obscure constellation suddenly became 600,000 (yes 600,000) times more luminous than our Sun." This "mysterious star" produced, in the process, a "light echo" that "uncovered remarkable new features" in that star's astral architecture. "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."
In the above sequence of images, then, you are looking at "continuously changing cross-sections of the dust envelope" – a visual effect compared by NASA to "a spelunker taking a flash picture of the walls of an undiscovered cavern," the "cavern" in question is an exploding sphere of light. This is one of the most amazing things i've ever seen.
Imagine if the most beautiful thing in the universe only exists for a billionth of a second.
Imagine if no one sees it.

Insight via NASA
Thanks to BLDblog for the info

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