A stunning image of one of the best supernovas was captured by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.

The space agency says the spectacular photo shows a small section of the expanding remains belonging to a massive star that exploded about 8,000 years ago.

'Called the Veil Nebula, the debris is one of the best-known supernova remnants, deriving its name from its delicate, draped filamentary structures,' NASA said in a statement.

'The entire nebula is 110 light-years across, covering six full moons on the sky as seen from Earth, and resides about 2,100 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus, the Swan.

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Stunning: NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured the stunning image above called the Veil Nebula

'This close-up look unveils wisps of gas, which are all that remain of what was once a star 20 times more massive than our sun.

'The fast-moving blast wave from the ancient explosion is plowing into a wall of cool, denser interstellar gas, emitting light.

'The nebula lies along the edge of a large bubble of low-density gas that was blown into space by the dying star prior to its self-detonation.'

Aboard the shuttle Discovery, NASA launched the Hubble Space Telescope on April 24, 1990.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland manages the telescope, while the agency partners with the European Space Agency on the project.

Hubble science operations are conducted by the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScl) in Baltimore, which is operated for NASA by the Association of University for Research in Astronomy.