#September2010

Ring of Spacefire Celebrates Supernova’s Righteousness

Oh, outer space. Your enormity is staggering. Today’s latest example is god damn impressive. As is much of what is out there in the cosmos. Today we’re looking at a six-trillion mile wide circle of gas, encircling a supernova.

via io9:

A 6-trillion-mile-wide ring of gas encircles a supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud, Supernova 1987A, and the explosions from the supernova are lighting it up like a candle, creating what will become a glowing ring.

According to the Hubble Space Telescope’s news site:

An international team of astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope reports a significant brightening of the emissions from Supernova 1987A. The results, which appear in this week’s Science magazine, are consistent with theoretical predictions about how supernovae interact with their immediate galactic environment.

God damn. Even fiery apocalypse burn death time is gorgeous in this galaxy. That shit is so beautiful. Why is it when I finally shed this mortal coil, I’m just going to be a bag of varicose veins and crappy diaper? I call shenanigans, universe. Ain’t fair.