Scientists Release Image of Gas Cloud from Star's Explosion
2022-11-04
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1The European Southern Observatory on Monday released an image of colorful clouds of gas created by the explosion of a huge star long ago.
2The clouds are in our own Milky Way galaxy about 800 light years from Earth.
3A light year is the distance light travels in a year, 9.5 trillion kilometers.
4Scientists estimate that the star was at least eight times the mass of the sun.
5The area of the colorful cloud is about 600 times the size of our own solar system.
6The image shows the pink and orange filament structures of the cloud.
7Filaments are like very thin strings such as silk or the strings of a spider's web.
8The cloud was created by the star's explosion, called a supernova.
9In a supernova, a large star collapses onto its core or center.
10The pressure and temperature at the core become so high that atoms of heavier elements are formed, and huge amounts of energy are released in a massive explosion.
11A supernova can also produce very heavy elements such as iron, gold or uranium.
12Bruno Leibundgut is an astronomer connected with the European Southern Observatory (ESO).
13He explained that denser areas of material from the supernova hit surrounding gas and created some of the filaments seen in the image.
14He said, "Most of the material that shines is due to hydrogen atoms that are excited. The beauty of such images is that we can directly see what material was inside a star."
15The image shows the cloud, called a nebula, about 11,000 years after the explosion.
16What is left of the supernova is a small, very dense spinning object called a pulsar.
17The pulsar spins about 10 times per second.
18The picture of the cloud is a combination of many images taken by the VLT Survey telescope in Chile.
19The telescope uses a camera with filters to capture light of different colors.
20The data for the image was collected from 2013 to 2016, the ESO said.
21I'm Andrew Smith.
1The European Southern Observatory on Monday released an image of colorful clouds of gas created by the explosion of a huge star long ago. 2The clouds are in our own Milky Way galaxy about 800 light years from Earth. A light year is the distance light travels in a year, 9.5 trillion kilometers. Scientists estimate that the star was at least eight times the mass of the sun. 3The area of the colorful cloud is about 600 times the size of our own solar system. 4The image shows the pink and orange filament structures of the cloud. Filaments are like very thin strings such as silk or the strings of a spider's web. 5The cloud was created by the star's explosion, called a supernova. 6In a supernova, a large star collapses onto its core or center. The pressure and temperature at the core become so high that atoms of heavier elements are formed, and huge amounts of energy are released in a massive explosion. A supernova can also produce very heavy elements such as iron, gold or uranium. 7Bruno Leibundgut is an astronomer connected with the European Southern Observatory (ESO). He explained that denser areas of material from the supernova hit surrounding gas and created some of the filaments seen in the image. 8He said, "Most of the material that shines is due to hydrogen atoms that are excited. The beauty of such images is that we can directly see what material was inside a star." 9The image shows the cloud, called a nebula, about 11,000 years after the explosion. 10What is left of the supernova is a small, very dense spinning object called a pulsar. The pulsar spins about 10 times per second. 11The picture of the cloud is a combination of many images taken by the VLT Survey telescope in Chile. The telescope uses a camera with filters to capture light of different colors. The data for the image was collected from 2013 to 2016, the ESO said. 12I'm Andrew Smith. 13Will Dunham reported this story for Reuters. Andrew Smith adapted it for VOA Learning English. 14____________________________________________________________________ 15Words in This Story 16filament -n. a material that appears long and very thin like a hair 17silk -n. a material that comes from silkworms and is manufactured into cloth 18core -n. the central part of something 19due to -prep. as a result of 20spin -v. to go around 21filter -n. a device that admits a substance but not others 22_____________________________________________________________________ 23We want to hear from you. 24We have a new comment system. Here is how it works: 25Each time you return to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies to them. Our comment policy is here.