The gigantic 'ghost star' spotted by Spitzer: NASA's space telescope reveals the remnants of a supernova

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It could be the biggest ghost in the universe.

A new image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has revealed the location of one of the larger supernova remnants in the Milky Way. 

Known as HBH 3, it is about 150 light-years in diameter, ranking it amongst the largest known supernova remnants.

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HBH 3: The vast is about 150 light-years in diameter, ranking it amongst the largest known supernova remnants. The red filaments in this image belong to a supernova remnant known as HBH 3 that was first observed in 1966 using radio telescopes. Traces of the remnant also radiate optical light. The branches of glowing material are most likely molecular gas that was pummeled by a shockwave generated by the supernova.

It is also possibly one of the oldest: Astronomers estimate the original explosion may have happened anywhere from 80,000 to one million years ago. 

Thin, red veins of energized gas mark the location of one of the larger supernova remnants in the Milky Way galaxy in this image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

A supernova 'remnant' refers to the collective, leftover signs of an exploded star, or supernova. 

The red filaments in this image belong to a supernova remnant known as HBH 3 that was first observed in 1966 using radio telescopes.

 Traces of the remnant also radiate optical light. 

The branches of glowing material are most likely molecular gas that was pummeled by a shockwave generated by the supernova. 

WHAT IS THE SPITZER SPACE TELESCOPE?

Spitzer is designed to detect infrared radiation, which is primarily heat radiation.

The Spitzer Space Telescope, formerly the Space Infrared Telescope Facility, is an infrared space telescope launched in 2003 and still operating as of 2018. 

It is the fourth and final of the NASA Great Observatories program 

The other missions in the program include the visible-light Hubble Space Telescope (HST), Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory (CGRO), and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (CXO).

Spitzer is designed to detect infrared radiation, which is primarily heat radiation.

Spitzer was originally built to last for a minimum of 2.5 years, but it lasted in the cold phase for over 5.5 years. 

On May 15, 2009 the coolant was finally depleted and the Spitzer 'warm mission' began. 

Operating with 2 channels from one of its instruments called IRAC, Spitzer can continue to operate until late in this decade. 

The energy from the explosion energized the molecules and caused them to radiate infrared light.

The white, cloud-like formation also visible in the image is part of a complex of star-forming regions, simply named W3, W4 and W5. 

However, those regions extend far beyond the edge of this image. 

Both the white star-forming regions and the red filaments are approximately 6,400 light years away and lie inside our Milky Way galaxy.

HBH 3 is about 150 light-years in diameter, ranking it amongst the largest known supernova remnants. 

In 2016, NASA's Fermi Gamma-Ray Telescope detected very high-energy light - called gamma rays - coming from the region near HBH 3. 

This emission may be coming from gas in one of the neighboring star-forming regions, excited by powerful particles emitted by the supernova blast. 

SUPERNOVAE OCCUR WHEN A GIANT STAR EXPLODES

A supernova occurs when a star explodes, shooting debris and particles into space.

A supernova burns for only a short period of time, but it can tell scientists a lot about how the universe began.

One kind of supernova has shown scientists that we live in an expanding universe, one that is growing at an ever increasing rate.

Scientists have also determined that supernovas play a key role in distributing elements throughout the universe.

In 1987, astronomers spotted a ‘titanic supernova’ in a nearby galaxy blazing with the power of over 100 million suns (pictured)

There are two known types of supernova.

The first type occurs in binary star systems when one of the two stars, a carbon-oxygen white dwarf, steals matter from its companion star.

Eventually, the white dwarf accumulates too much matter, causing the star to explode, resulting in a supernova.

The second type of supernova occurs at the end of a single star's lifetime.

As the star runs out of nuclear fuel, some of its mass flows into its core.

Eventually, the core is so heavy it can't stand its own gravitational force and the core collapses, resulting in another giant explosion. 

Many elements found on Earth are made in the core of stars and these elements travel on to form new stars, planets and everything else in the universe.