•• V838 Monocerotis Revisited • Here we see a light echo. A view of an expanding halo of light around a distant star, named V838 Monocerotis (V838 Mon). The illumination of interstellar dust comes from the red supergiant star at the middle of the image, which gave off a flashbulb-like pulse of light. Credit: NASA, the Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI) and ESA | Astronomy Nation

This isn't an expanding star: this is a light echo! Seen in this time-lapse sonification, a pulse of light from the star V838 Monocerotis gives the illusion that the surrounding dust is expanding into space. In reality, the dust shells aren't expanding at all – the light from the star's flash is just reaching dust that is farther away. Hubble captured the first image #OTD in 2002! This star is located about 20,000 light-years away, at the outer edge of our Milky Way Galaxy. In this sonification,

JWST just imaged a LIGHT ECHO in space! We’re seeing inside cosmic dust 📸 #space #astronomy #nasa #spacenews #science | Astro Alexandra