What is seen here is called the Crab Nebula. This sort of explosion-like object in space is actually what it looks like; it is the remains of an exploded star. What causes a star to explode is when it is essentially all out of fuel and bursts. These beautiful lights come from the hydrogen and the electrons in the center of the star that slowly diffuses into space and could possibly become a breeding ground for new planets. According to ancient observations, all the back to 1054 (around 960 years ago), this supernova appeared into the night sky. The amazing thing about this explosion was that it so bright that it appeared in the daylight for 23 days and was even visible in the night sky for around 2 years in some places. So at one point it was brighter than the moon! Today being at about 10 light-years wide (that is approximately 60 trillion miles!), this nebula is a phenomenon that will happen to every star. What is so amazing about this star is that it travels 1,000 kilometers per second, yet that amount of space is nothing compared to the astronomical size of outer space. When put into perspective, this whole process takes thousands upon thousands of year to accomplish which is nothing compared to the billions of years that this planet has been alive for. Who knows, maybe our sun will also explode into this magnificent creation once it has reached it's end, but hopefully not until a long time.
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