Captured by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, this elegant red band stretching across the universe is the remnant of a 1000-year-old supernova explosion that took place 7000 light years away. This stellar explosion, called SN 1006, was observed in 1006 AD and was the brightest star humans have ever seen - bright enough to be visible even in daylight. A supernova is when a Sun-like star becomes a white dwarf at the end of its life and then explodes. This sinuous filament is the trail left by the explosion as it sweeps away the surrounding gas. This supernova is about 60 light years in diameter and is still expanding at about 9.6 million kilometres per hour (about 6 million miles per hour).

Image description:

A thin, red ribbon of gas crosses the scene diagonally. Details in the trail show the size and curvature of the flow of matter. In the background, black space is filled with yellow stars and galaxies.

Can we call it the end of a ribbon?