New Details in Supernova 1987A

Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach in collaboration with NASA’s Universe of Learning partners: Caltech/IPAC, Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Video imagery:

·       James Webb Space Telescope image of SN 1987A: NASA, ESA, CSA, Mikako Matsuura (Cardiff University), Richard Arendt (NASA-GSFC, UMBC), Claes Fransson (Stockholm University), Josefin Larsson (KTH). Image processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI).

·       Labeled James Webb Space Telescope image of SN 1987A: NASA, ESA, CSA, Mikako Matsuura (Cardiff University), Richard Arendt (NASA-GSFC, UMBC), Claes Fransson (Stockholm University), Josefin Larsson (KTH). Image processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI).

·       Time lapse of Hubble Space Telescope observations of SN 1987A:  NASA, ESA, Robert P. Kirshner (CfA, Moore Foundation), Peter Challis (CfA)

·       James Webb Space Telescope image of SN 1987A: NASA, ESA, CSA, Mikako Matsuura (Cardiff University), Richard Arendt (NASA-GSFC, UMBC), Claes Fransson (Stockholm University), Josefin Larsson (KTH). Image processing: Alyssa Pagan (STScI).

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A grid of photographs of celestial bodies moves up. A white line moves down and another across. Text, News from the universe. The text is above an image of Jupiter. 

 

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Text, September 7, 2023. New Details in Supernova 1987A. 

 

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has revealed a new feature in the supernova remnant SN 1987A. 

 

Concentric ovals of bright light. 

 

Sections of the supernova are labeled. In the center is an irregularly shaped blue gas labeled "inner ejects (keyhole). A dotted line around that is labeled "crescent." A ring of bright dots of light around that are labeled "equatorial ring hotspots." 

 

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Text, Webb has revealed small crescent-like structures surrounding the dense inner ejects of dust and gas at the site of the supernova explosion. 

 

A dotted line around the hotspots is labeled "equatorial ring." Large dotted line rings above and below, that together resemble a figure 8, are each labeled "outer ring." 

 

Text, Astronomers think these crescent structures are part of the outer layers of gas shot out from the supernova. 

 

A bright star is just above the upper outer ring and another just in side the lower one. 

 

Text, Beyond the crescents is a ring of material that was ejected tens of thousands of years ago. 

 

The labels and rings disappear and leave a bright ring around a central mass of gas. 

 

Text, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope shared a time lapse of the supernova shockwave hitting the ring and lighting up its dust for the supernova's 30th anniversary in 2017. 

 

The date below the ring changes from 1994, year by year to 2016, then again from 1994 to 2006. The ring changes from dark yellow to bright white. 

 

Text, Continued monitoring of SN 1987A is helping astronomers better understand what takes place in the aftermath of a supernova. 

 

The supernova with the central blue gas surrounded by the ring made up of white circles of light and rings of yellow-white gas. 

 

Text, This news was brought to you in part by the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, MD.