Supernova 1987A

Capture

Canon A1, 50mm, f1.4, 30 sec, ASA 1000

Date

27 February 1987

Location

Camden, NSW

Original

3361 × 2231 px

SN 1987A was a Type II supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. It occurred approximately 168,000 light-years from Earth and was the closest observed supernova since Kepler's Supernova in 1604. Light and neutrinos from the explosion reached Earth on February 23, 1987. Its brightness peaked in May of that year, with an apparent magnitude of about 3. The progenitor star was a blue supergiant star named Sanduleak -69° 202. This was a surprise as core-collapse supernovae were previously thought to originate only from red supergiants. For decades, the dense dust and gas hid the collapsed core left behind at the centre. Recent observations by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and other observatories have found strong chemical and thermal evidence confirming the presence of a young neutron star.

See it in the miscellaneous gallery