Dark Energy Camera captures remains of a massive star that exploded nearly 11,000 years ago

The Dark Energy Camera (DECam) has captured the remains of a massive star that exploded nearly 11,000 years ago in a massive 1.3-gigapixel image. This image is one of the biggest ever made of the Vela Supernova Remnant, an expanding nebula of cosmic debris located in the Vela Supernova Remnant, an expanding nebula of cosmic debris left over from a massive star that exploded about 11,000 years ago.

The gigantic structure spans almost 100 light-years and is 20 times larger than the full Moon in the night sky. When the star exploded thousands of years ago, its outer layers were violently stripped away and flung into the surrounding region, driving the shockwave that is still propagating into the interstellar medium.

This high-resolution color image showcases the intricate web-like filaments snaking throughout the expanding gas cloud. The striking reds, yellows, and blues in this image were achieved through the use of three DECam filters that each collect a specific color of light. Separate images were taken in each filter and then stacked on top of each other to produce this image.

Mounted on the US National Science Foundation's Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, DECam is one of the highest-performing wide-field imaging instruments in the world.

"A single image taken with DECam has 570 megapixels, so with multiple exposures stacked on top of one another, the amount of detail that can be captured is truly remarkable. Owing to DECam's large mosaic of CCDs, astronomers are able to create mesmerizing images of faint astronomical objects, such as the Vela Supernova Remnant, that offer a limitless starscape to explore," NOIRLab wrote in a post.