These images from the Hubble's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) provide a new and unprecedented look at one of the most unique and complex structures in the universe – a light-year wide ring of glowing gas around supernova 1987A, the nearest stellar explosion in 400 years, which occurred in February 1987.
The STIS long-slit spectrograph viewed the entire ring system, dissecting its light and producing a detailed image of the ring in each of its component colors. Each color represents light from specific elements in the ring's gasses, including oxygen (single green ring), nitrogen and hydrogen (triple orange rings), and sulfur (double red rings).
The ratio of the ring's brightness in different colors, emanating from the same elements, gives a measure of the concentration of the gasses. The light from different elements also identifies gasses at different temperatures.
By dismantling the ring into its different puzzle pieces – its component elements – astronomers hope to put together a picture of stellar process and physics which created the ring.
The ring formed 30,000 years before the star exploded and so is a fossil record of the final stages of the star's existence. The light from the supernova heated the gas in the ring so that it now glows at temperatures from 5,000 to 25,000 degrees Kelvin.
Supernova 1987A is located 167,000 light-years away from Earth in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
Credits
STIS images: George Sonneborn (GSFC) and NASA;WFPC image: Jason Pun (NOAO) and SINS Collaboration, and NASA
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | SN 1987A |
| R.A. Position | 05h 35m 28.25s |
| Dec. Position | -69° 16' 13.0" |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
