What happens when a white dwarf star becomes so massive it explodes? A supernova of course!

What causes the white dwarf (now named supernova: 0509-67.5) to gain enough mass for this to happen… Normally astronomers theorize that this happens when the white dwarf simply gathers enough material from another companion star.

Although, with the sharp discerning eye of the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers could not find any trace of such a companion star having had mass siphoned away from 0509-67.5, the white dwarf.

Instead, rather than merely taking material away, they believe that this white dwarf actually collided with another white dwarf, creating an intense supernova. Therefore both stars were destroyed and in the midst of the blast this beautiful strange looking bubble was created as a result; now showing in deep space, no need to arrive late to avoid sitting through previews. You probably won’t need to make a trip to the concession counter and stand in line for popcorn, candy and soda pop, either. Read more about Hubble Discovers a Bubble

This is a beautiful quote, but what does it mean?

In order to find the meaning we must define what the universe is. The universe is everything here that exists today. Yet, it is also everything left from yesterday and the day before that. It is you, it is me. It is every planet, galaxy and star. It is also every form of energy and matter. We can trace the universe back to the beginning of time.

Knowing these facts, it’s exciting when the Hubble Space Telescope discovers the earliest galaxies in our known universe. That is exactly what it did. For the first time, the Hubble found a few incredibly condensed, ultra-blue galaxies, read all the details here. Read more about Oldest Known Galaxies Discovered

In honor of Halloween, National Geographic released ten spooky pictures from space. You can view the images via: a slideshow here.

My favorite was the Black Widow nebula. In Latin, nebula directly translated means: cloud. Nebulae consist of interstellar gases and other matter visible as an extended astronomical object. Before galaxies were discovered by Edwin Hubble, they were commonly referred to as nebulae. Our own Milky Way galaxy was considered a nebula before the early 1920’s.

Nebulae fascinate me to no end. As time goes on they accumulate hydrogen, helium and other ionized gases. Eventually gathering enough matter to create a visible cluster and finally form into an actual star!