This Hubble Space Telescope picture shows Supernova 1987A and its neighborhood. The series of four panels shows the evolution of the SN 1987A debris from February 1994 to February 1996. Material from the stellar interior was ejected into space during the supernova explosion in February 1987. The explosion debris is expanding at nearly 6 million miles per hour.
Ten years now after the explosion, this cosmic fireball is large enough -- about one-sixth of a light-year in diameter -- to be resolved from the Earth's orbit with the Hubble Space Telescope. The debris is resolved into two opposing blobs and is dim in the center. The apparent direction of ejection is the same as the short axis of the bright inner ring that surrounds the supernova. This suggests that the explosion is directed out of the plane of the ring. The ring is probably composed of materials lost by the pre-supernova star in the last stages of its evolution.
Supernova 1987A is located 167,000 light-years away from Earth in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
The telescope captured the images with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. The central image of the supernova and the ring system was taken in light emitted by nitrogen gas (658 nanometers) on Sept. 24, 1994. The series of debris images were taken using a visible light filter of wavelength around 550 nanometers taken (from left to right) on Feb. 4, 1994, Sept. 24, 1994, March 5, 1995, and Feb. 6, 1996.
Credits
Chun Shing Jason Pun (NASA/GSFC), Robert P. Kirshner (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), 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 |
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| 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. |
