Film & Animation

The Red Bubble: Supernova Remnant SNR 0509-67.5 [Ultra HD]

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This movie presents a visualization of the supernova remnant known as SNR 0509-67.5. The delicate sphere of gas, photographed by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, is the result of gas that is being shocked by the expanding blast wave from a supernova. The bubble is the visible remnant of a powerful stellar explosion in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a small galaxy about 160,000 light-years from Earth. Ripples in the shell’s surface may be caused by either subtle variations in the density of the ambient interstellar gas, or possibly driven from the interior by pieces of the ejecta. The bubble-shaped shroud of gas is 23 light-years across and is expanding at more than 11 million miles per hour (5,000 kilometers per second).... Read More

Behind the Webb: Give Me Five (Episode 31)

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NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will be looking at the universe with infrared vision. In order to optimally accomplish this mission, the observatory has to be kept as cold as possible. A carefully designed set of 5 coated layers of a special material called Kapton work together to enable the heat to be deflected from the telescope. This episode of Behind the Webb shows what the deployment of the sunshield and its layers looks like from the ground.... Read More