V528 Aquilae is the remnant of what was once a giant sun — actually two suns, one giant and a smaller hotter companion. Over a thousand years ago it exploded, consuming its inner planets and its companion as well. It was visible from the Earth as a “new” star in the constellation Aquila (The Eagle) in 1945.

Perhaps there were once inhabitants on its second world, which might have had a much higher number designation before the inner worlds evaporated into streaming plasma. Here we see the twisted and blasted remains of the world’s nickel-iron core, it’s former atmosphere, crust and mantle long ago blown into space by the nova explosion, now with a new atmosphere formed by outgassing.

Nestled among the grotesque iron spires lie the enigmatic bubbles of impenetrable stasis fields whose contents, if any, lie outside the ravages of time and space and cannot be probed by any known technology. Did a civilization protect part of its culture within these spheres, knowing that a nova was coming?  Did they leave this world hoping one day to return? Or are they themselves preserved within these mute stasis spheres?  We may never know.