Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

V838 Light Echo: The Movie

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for April 2, 2003 is “V838 Light Echo: The Movie,” an image. It is credited to Credit: H. Bond ( STScI ), A. Henden ( USNO Flagstaff ), Z. Levay (STScI), et al., ESA , NASA. The original explanation runs about 157 words.

V838 Light Echo: The Movie
Credit: H. Bond ( STScI ), A. Henden ( USNO Flagstaff ), Z. Levay (STScI), et al., ESA , NASA Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“What caused this outburst of V838 Mon? For reasons unknown, star V838 Mon ‘s outer surface suddenly greatly expanded with the result that it became the brightest star in the entire Milky Way Galaxy .”

— APOD editors, April 2, 2003

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
April 2, 2003
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: H. Bond ( STScI ), A. Henden ( USNO Flagstaff ), Z. Levay (STScI), et al., ESA , NASA
Copyright
No copyright notice on the entry. Check the credited institution’s own usage rules before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 157 words

All of April 2003 → · 2003 by month → · Full archive since 1995 →

Topics in this entry

The Milky WayGalaxies

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: April 2 in other years

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Source

Copy taken Oct 28, 2026, 2:39 AM EDT. The image and explanation belong to their creators. OpenOrbit is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.