Discovered in 1987, this supernova wowed astronomers with its impressive light show. Located in the nearby Large Magellanic Cloud, it was the closest supernova observed in centuries. This gave astronomers the greatest opportunity to date to study the stages before, during and after a star's death.

For over 30 years, this supernova has been studied by NASA Hubble, Chandra Xray and ALMA, a powerful array of 66 antennas. Here are some of the key findings, so slow down a bit, sit back, because this is new:

- Hubble's observations showed that the dense ring of gas around the supernova (visible in the center of the image) is about a light-year wide and glows in optical light. This ring of gas existed at least 20,000 years before the star exploded. The ultraviolet light from the explosion excited the gas in the ring, making it glow for decades.

- Chandra data revealed an expanding ring of X-ray emission that became increasingly brighter from 1993 to 2013. The shockwave from the original explosion hit the ring of gas surrounding the supernova, heating it and creating X-rays in the process.

- Starting in 2012, astronomers began using ALMA to study the glowing remnant of the supernova and discovered that this remnant was producing large amounts of new dust. Some of this dust will spread out into interstellar space and could become the building blocks of future stars and planets in another system. At the same time, these observations suggest that the dust in the early universe probably originated from similar supernova explosions.

Görüntü açıklaması:

Kırmızı renkli gaz ve toz bulutları görüntünün üst kısmını ve biraz da alt kısmını dolduruyor. Merkezde patlayan bir yıldızın kalıntısı olan Süpernova 1987a yer alıyor. Süpernova pembemsi bir ışık halkasıyla çevrelenmiştir. İki soluk dış halka da görülebiliyor. Yıldızlar ve galaksiler kırmızı ve mavi ışıkla parlıyor.

 

Kredi: NASA, ESA, R. Kirshner (Harvard-Smithsonian Astrofizik Merkezi ve Gordon ve Betty Moore Vakfı) ve M. Mutchler ve R. Avila (STScI)