English: In January 2002, a dull star in an obscure constellation suddenly became 600,000 times more luminous than our Sun, temporarily making it the brightest star in our Milky Way galaxy. The mysterious star, called V838 Monocerotis, has long since faded back to obscurity. But observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope of a phenomenon called a "light echo" around the star have uncovered remarkable new features. 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.
Français : Echo lumineux. Courant janvier 2002, l'étoile V838 de la Licorne (en rouge, au centre) devint brusquement 60 000 fois plus brillante que le Soleil, ce qui fit d'elle l'étoile temporairement la plus brillante de notre Voie Lactée. Dans les mois suivant, ce flash cosmique, un phénomène d'"écho lumineux", devint observable sous la forme d'anneaux concentriques autour de l'étoile. Ce phénomène permet d'etudier la structure des nuages de poussière entourant cette étoile en fin de vie.
Deutsch: Eine Quelle von Sternenstaub - Die Nova im Jahre 2002 des 20.000 Lichtjahre entfernten Riesensterns V838 Monoceros im Sternbild Einhorn. Die braunen Sternenstaub-Wirbel stammen von einem Ausbruch mehrere 10.000 Jahre zuvor. Ihr Durchmesser beträgt etwa 7 bis 8 Lichtjahre.
한국어: 2002년 1월 외뿔소자리 V838은 짧은 기간 동안 태양의 60만 배로 밝아졌으며 잠시나마 우리 은하에서 가장 밝은 별의 지위를 누렸다. 이후 이 별은 서서히 어두워져서 시야에서 사라져 갔다. 미국 항공우주국 허블 우주 망원경은 이 별 주위에 '빛의 메아리'로 명명된, 주목할만한 구조가 형성되어 있음을 포착했다.
This file is in the public domain because it was created by NASA and ESA. NASA Hubble material (and ESA Hubble material prior to 2009) is copyright-free and may be freely used as in the public domain without fee, on the condition that only NASA, STScI, and/or ESA is credited as the source of the material. This license does not apply if ESA material created after 2008 or source material from other organizations is in use.