The Mysterious Rings
of Supernova 1987A
From NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day
What's causing
those odd rings in supernova 1987A?
Thirty years ago, in
1987, the brightest supernova in
recent history was seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
At the center of
the featured
picture is an object central to the remains of the violent stellar explosion.
Surrounding the
center are curious
outer rings appearing as a flattened figure 8.
Although large
telescopes including the Hubble Space Telescope monitor
the curious rings every few years, their origin remains a mystery.
Pictured here is
a Hubble image of the SN1987A remnant
taken in 2011.
Speculation into the cause of
the rings includes beamed jets emanating from an otherwise hidden neutron star left over
from the supernova, and the interaction of the wind from the
progenitor star with gas released before the explosion.
Image Credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA
