Shocked Region Around SN 1987A

This image shows the entire region around supernova 1987A. The most prominent feature in the image is a ring with dozens of bright spots. A shock wave of material unleashed by the stellar blast is slamming into regions along the ring's inner regions, heating them up, and causing them to glow. The ring, about a light-year across, was probably shed by the star about 20,000 years before it exploded.

About the data

ACS data of SN 1987A were observed with the HST proposal 10867 : R. Kirshner (Harvard University ) and collaborators.