A three-ringed circus

This Hubble Space Telescope image, taken in February 1994 with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 , shows the full system of three rings of glowing gas surrounding supernova 1987A. Located in a small galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud, the supernova is a massive star that exploded in about 165, 000 BC, but its light didn't arrive here until February 1987.