Blast from the past: Astronomers use 'light echoes' to reconstruct 19th century 'Great Eruption'

Blast from the past: Astronomers use 'light echoes' to reconstruct 19th century 'Great Eruption': "A team of scientists have captured light from a space eruption that was seen on Earth in the mid-1800s using a new 'light echo' technique.



The scientists caught 'echoes' of a shockwave of light which has bounced off clouds in space - so we can see the same moment that people did 170 years ago.

The 'space forensics' technique has helped unravel the mystery of a stellar event known as the 'Great Eruption' in the nineteenth century, where a star, Eta Carinae, suddenly became the second-brightest in the sky."