The Vela Supernova Remnant

This beautiful structure is what remains of a massive star that ended its life with a supernova explosion some 11 000 years ago. The core of the star collapsed, forming a pulsar, while the outermost layers were ejected into the interstellar medium, producing the filaments that we still observe. This supernova remnant is located some 800 light years away, in the southern constellation of Vela (The Sails). The astrophotograph was taken from ESO's La Silla Observatory.