Location: Constellation Puppis
Coordinates: 07 37 56.884 -25 56 58.91
Distance: 27,000 ly
Mainstream description
Bipolar nova remnant consisting of twin lobes of hot dust expanding away from a possible binary star system at about 24 million kilometers per hour. The optical spectrum of the nova is deficient in hydrogen but contains several heavier elements. This is unlike any other nova observed. The infrared spectrum is a featureless continuum that suggests this is a recurrent nova that has generated dust in previous explosions.
Alternative description
Stellar-scale Birkeland currents have twisted tightly around each other and compressed themselves resulting in a powerful electrical discharge and magnetic z-pinch. The z-pinch compresses the intervening plasma so strongly it fuses and generates a thermonuclear explosion that blasts superheated dust and plasma outward in opposite directions perpendicular to the plane of the z-pinch.