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This dark, tangled web is an object named SNR 0454-67.2. It formed in a very violent fashion – it is a supernova remnant, created after a massive star ended its life in a cataclysmic explosion and threw its constituent material out into surrounding space. This created the messy formation we see in this Hubble Space Telescope image, with threads of red snaking amidst dark, turbulent clouds.
SNR 0454-67.2 is situated in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf spiral galaxy that lies close to the Milky Way. The remnant is likely the result of a Type Ia supernova explosion; this category of supernovae is formed from the death of a white dwarf star, which grows and grows by siphoning material from a stellar companion until it reaches a critical mass and then explodes.
As they always form via a specific mechanism – when the white dwarf hits a particular mass – these explosions always have a well-known luminosity, and are thus used as markers (standard candles) for scientists to obtain and measure distances throughout the Universe.
Image Credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA
Image enhancement: Jean-Baptiste Faure
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