Unwrap the wonders of the red supergiant star V838 Monocerotis in this time-lapse of the light echo from the star’s 2002 outburst, when it temporarily became 600,000 times more luminous than the Sun. The flash from that event has been moving outward through space, lighting up previously unseen shells of dusty material around the star. They may have been ejected during previous outbursts, which is common in aging stars. The Hubble Space Telescope returned repeatedly to study the evolving scene. C

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•• V838 Monocerotis Revisited • Here we see a light echo. A view of an expanding halo of light around a distant star, named V838 Monocerotis (V838 Mon). The illumination of interstellar dust comes from the red supergiant star at the middle of the image, which gave off a flashbulb-like pulse of light. Credit: NASA, the Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI) and ESA | Astronomy Nation