This photograph was taken by the Hubble Space telescope in 2006. SNR 0509 is located in the Large Magnetic Cloud about 160,000 light years away, near the constellation of Dorado and it spans 23 light years across. The ribbons on SNR 0509 are remnants of a supernova and appear red because the telescope used a filter that would detect energetic hydrogen. It is believed that the red outer ring was caused by a Type Ia supernova explosion nearly 400 years ago which created the speed and light echoes depicted with the red ring. A type Ia supernova explosion is an enormous explosion of a white dwarf star.The fainter ribbons from the supernova are more difficult to explain but it hypothesized that they are related to either impacted or ejected gas. It still remains a mystery why the explosion of the supernova was not recorded when it would have been seen from Earth approximately 400 years ago.
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