Did someone say weekend? 🤩 Over 9,000 light-years away, in the constellation Taurus, a shroud of thick gas and dust surrounds a bright young star—the remnants of a cosmic explosion. @NASAHubble investigated this distant explosive event to help astronomers understand the early stages in the lives of massive stars. Unlike the cosmic materials which typically surround young stars in twin outflows of gas and dust, the materials of this star are expelled in a tumultuous fan-like spray at velocities of up to 217 miles per second (350 kilometers per second). To measure how far away this star truly is astronomers had to use context clues to reveal the complete answer. While it is possible to measure the velocity of material speeding outward from the star, astronomers cannot tell how far from Earth the star actually is from a single observation. Therefore, they measured how far the outflow travels between successive images and from there inferred the star's distance from our home planet. Knowing the distance of a star allows astronomers to determine how bright the star is and how much energy it emits, and therefore estimate its mass—vital information in determining the origins of this bright young star's unique physique. Image Description: Remnants of a star’s cosmic explosion. At the focal point of this image is a cloud of swirly debris comprising stellar materials of gas and dust spreading outwards from the center of the image. The debris is hues of orange and brown becoming increasingly wispy further from its epicenter, among the furthest reaches the debris appears lighter shades of grey and blue. The background of the image is the deep black of space interrupted by speckles of stars throughout. Image Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Sahai #NASA #Space #Star #Cosmos #Explosion #Gas #Constellation #Hubble #Telescope #spiral