Light echoes from Tycho Brahe's 1572 supernova


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Animation showing the evolution of the light echoes from the supernova explosion.
This animation illustrates how a light echo works and how it can be used for time travel. A supernova
explosion acts like a cosmic flashbulb. The wave of light from the explosion zips through space. When the
light wave is hitting dust particles of an interstellar cloud, some light is reflected back. This reflected light
forms a secondary wave of light which is delayed relative to the original one by some time this is called
light echo.
In the year 1572 the direct light wave from a supernova explosion swept past Earth and was observed by
Tycho Brahe and others. Now, more than 400 years later a secondary wave of light of the supernova was
observed. Using the scientific instruments of the 21st century, the mystery of the famous 16th century
supernova could be solved.
Credit and copyright Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie: http://www.mpia.de/IRSPACE/Tycho_release/index.html
Added on Nov 2, 2009 by deek
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