APOD 3.2

January 25th, 2011.                            The Rippled Red Ribbons of SNR 0509.

First seen in 2006, these ripples of a supernova remnant were once again seen late last year.  This photograph was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.  The Hubble used a filter that emitted only the element Hydrogen through, which in turn caused for the reddish coloring of the ripples.  While the reason for the causation of these rings remains unknown, many astronomers have ventured to hypothesize why they have formed.  Many say that they originated due to highly dense concentrations of ejected or impacted gas.  The reason for the bolder center ring is much more certain, as it originated from a type Ia supernova explosion that was thought to occur about 400 years ago.  SNR 0509 lays 160,000 light-years away near the constellation Delphinus and spans for about 23 light-years, which while it is still a huge amount, as we saw from the videos in class this week, in comparison to the universe it is a near insignificant amount.  While much is being learned about these ripples, one mystery still remains.  While it is believed that the explosion of a supernova caused for the formation of the rings, no records of sight of the explosion from Earth when it occurred 400 years ago were ever found.