Sign up for free

Newsletters

Once a month
get new photos
and expert tips.

Science and Space
Main Health and Human Body Earth Environment Space Prehistoric World A-Z

Light Echo

When the red supergiant V838 Monocerotis suddenly brightened for several weeks in early 2002, it showed it was cloaked in a never-before-seen cloud structure. The burst of light reflecting off the clouds, called a light echo, was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Photograph courtesy NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)