--- title: Watch: Exploding Star Time Lapse from Hubble Telescope description: The explosion was so bright that for a while it was one of the most luminous stars in the Milky Way canonical: https://time.com/2875800/exploding-star-time-lapse-hubble-nasa/ author: Francesca Trianni article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-14T15:53:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T08:57:31.317Z article:section: Science og:title: Watch: Exploding Star Time Lapse from Hubble Telescope og:description: The explosion was so bright that for a while it was one of the most luminous stars in the Milky Way og:url: https://time.com/2875800/exploding-star-time-lapse-hubble-nasa/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdaf486693ad55fd9/698697a4cd68480bb4095376/nasa-v838-monocerotis.jpg?branch=production&width=914&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 914 og:image:height: 514 og:image:alt: IDL TIFF file og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch: Exploding Star Time Lapse from Hubble Telescope twitter:description: The explosion was so bright that for a while it was one of the most luminous stars in the Milky Way twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdaf486693ad55fd9/698697a4cd68480bb4095376/nasa-v838-monocerotis.jpg?branch=production&width=914&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch: Breathtaking Time Lapse Video Shows Star Exploding > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=58a2c1ba-0a6f-468e-b650-3e75301e00f0&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Watch: Timelapse of Star Explosion [Watch (HLS stream): Watch: Timelapse of Star Explosion](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/MeJHY5Tq.m3u8) (1:32)  _Published 2014-06-14. Watch: Timelapse of Star Explosion_  by [Francesca Trianni](https://time.com/author/francesca-trianni/)  ## Francesca Trianni Jun 14, 2014 3:53 PM UTC Watch: Timelapse of Star Explosion  by [Francesca Trianni](https://time.com/author/francesca-trianni/)  ## Francesca Trianni Jun 14, 2014 3:53 PM UTC Ever wonder what an exploding star looks like? NASA has released this incredible time lapse video showing the enormous explosion of a red star called V838 Monocerotis, located some 20,000 light years away. The breathtaking images were captured by NASA’s Hubble telescope over a four-year period. What makes this starburst even more fascinating is that its origins remains a puzzle, as scientists still don’t fully understand why the explosion occurred. Initially, astronomers thought it was a nova – which is a relatively more common outburst – but more recently, they came to the realization that it was something quite different. “The outburst may represent a transitory stage in a star’s evolution that is rarely seen,” says [the Hubble website](http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2004/10/). “The star has some similarities to highly unstable aging stars called eruptive variables, which suddenly and unpredictably increase in brightness.” ## Transcript [01:31] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2875800/exploding-star-time-lapse-hubble-nasa/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2875800/exploding-star-time-lapse-hubble-nasa/"},"headline":"Watch: Breathtaking Time Lapse Video Shows Star Exploding","datePublished":"2014-06-14T15:53:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-01T08:57:31.317Z","description":"The eruption was so bright that for a while it was one of the most luminous stars in the Milky Way","url":"https://time.com/2875800/exploding-star-time-lapse-hubble-nasa/","keywords":["Space","NASA","Hubble","star","explosion","universe"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdaf486693ad55fd9/698697a4cd68480bb4095376/nasa-v838-monocerotis.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Francesca Trianni","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/francesca-trianni/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdaf486693ad55fd9/698697a4cd68480bb4095376/nasa-v838-monocerotis.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"IDL TIFF file","caption":"IDL TIFF file","creditText":"NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI)","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2875800/exploding-star-time-lapse-hubble-nasa/","name":"Watch: Breathtaking Time Lapse Video Shows Star Exploding"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch: Timelapse of Star Explosion","description":"Watch: Timelapse of Star Explosion","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/MeJHY5Tq/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-06-14T15:05:31.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/MeJHY5Tq.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/2875800/exploding-star-time-lapse-hubble-nasa/","duration":"PT1M32S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/2875800/exploding-star-time-lapse-hubble-nasa/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```