--- 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: 2026-02-21T08:25:15.089Z 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=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 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=1920&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch: Breathtaking Time Lapse Video Shows Star Exploding  by [Francesca Trianni](https://time.com/author/francesca-trianni/)  ## Francesca Trianni Jun 14, 2014 3:53 PM UTC  "Light Echo" Illuminates Dust Around Supergiant Star V838 Monocerotis (V838 Mon) "Light Echo" Illuminates Dust Around Supergiant Star V838 Monocerotis (V838 Mon)NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI)  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.” ```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":"2026-02-21T08:25:15.089Z","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":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/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"}}]}] ```