NASA Hubble Space Telescope Shares Spooky Spiderweb Just In Time For Halloween

NASA Hubble Space Telescope revealed a creepy but intriguing image ahead of Halloween amid technical difficulties. The carbon star CW Leonis, which lies in the constellation Leo, has a dreadful orange eye of a star staring from behind a veil of smoke. It's around 400 light-years away from Earth.

With Halloween approaching, Hubble treated astronomy nerds with additional material that would be appropriate for the occasion. On its Twitter feed, the space observatory shared eight unusual and creepy celestial images. NASA compiled the entire presentation into a two-minute video clip.

Hubble Shares Scary Image Of Dying Star

The cosmic spiderweb, a red giant star named CW Leonis, is the most prominent of the scary clips. Not only does it appear great, but its intensity of space activity astounded experts.

Its orange red "cobwebs," according to NASA, are dusty clouds of sooty carbon enveloping the dying star. The unusual outer layers were created by the carbon on its internal nuclear fusion blasting into space. The magnetic field of the star shapes the inner structure, which resembles arcs or "spaces between the web strings." Space, as is customary, obeys the principles of nature, resulting in amazing and surprising vistas.

The dust cloud surrounding CW Leonis may let starlight flow through, according to researchers. They are, however, still looking into what is causing CW Leonis' extreme brightness. They assume that its core and the surrounding shell plasma began fusing with hydrogen, forming the outer layers that inflate around the swollen red giant.

The surface temperature of CW Leonis and its orange-reddish color extension is just 2.300 degrees Fahrenheit. Mid-infrared wavelengths rendered some of its parts invisible, eventually replaced by the green streaks shown in the photo.

CW Leonis is just 400 light-years from Earth, making it the planet's nearest carbon star. This ideal location allows researchers to observe and evaluate the star and its interactions with the surrounding environment.

Dying Star Explained

According to Republic World, the outer pressure that balances gravity within their cores becomes out of equilibrium when tiny to intermediate-mass stars run out of fuel (hydrogen) in their cores. This factor causes the star to collapse. Following the core's collapse, the plasma shell around it gets unbearably hot, causing the remaining hydrogen to fuse. The heat generated by this fusion causes the star's outer layers to expand, turning it into a bloated red giant. This carbon-rich red giant star is now at the aforementioned era of its existence and is enveloped by a dense veil of sooty dust.

Interestingly, CW Leonis is the nearest carbon star to Earth, providing scientists with an opportunity to study the star's interaction with its envelope. Detailed Hubble studies of CW Leonis over the previous two decades also reveal the growth of ring-like threads of ejected debris surrounding the star.

Hubble Space Telescope in Safe Mode

NASA Hubble Telescope disclosed technical issues with the famed space telescope earlier this week, Science Times said. After "experiencing synchronization challenges with internal spacecraft communications," the spacecraft went into safe mode. Fortunately, NASA stated that all of its instruments are in fine working order.

Although Hubble is decades old, it has supplied many incredible photographs and films of space activities. Researchers and space enthusiasts are hoping for many new discoveries from the space telescope later this year.

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