The remnants of a water-water-supernova explosion bring the light of a white dwarf star 160 thousand light-years away to help us understand the past of our universe.

Captured by observations from the NASA Chandra xray and NASA Hubble telescopes, the debris of SNR 0519 lit up the night in our neighbouring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud. Scientists use such explosions to measure the distances of galaxies billions of light years away.

Image description:

A translucent cherry-red blob floats in a dark sky filled with sparkling white and golden stars. The bright shape is outlined by thin and more opaque red lines. A thin ring of grey clouds coloured in shades of green, blue and purple lies within the supernova remnant.

How can a dying star look so beautiful?