Captured by NASA's Hubble space telescope, a halo of light expanding around a distant star called V838 Monocreotis. It is located at the outer edge of the Milky Way Galaxy, about 20,000 light years from Earth. The expansion and illumination of never-before-seen dust spirals is called a light echo. These swirls are probably caused by dust and gas ejected from a red supergiant star in an earlier explosion. During this event, the star became 600,000 times brighter than our Sun. Astronomers have observed that the star will continue to change as the light pulse continues to expand at the speed of light.

Image description:

At the centre of the image is a supergiant red star glowing with streaks of red light. Hazy tan gas and dust surround the red star in a circular formation. Bright white stars emitting beams of light surround the background of the image and the gas and dust in the darkness of space.

It's a space masterpiece, isn't it?