HUBBLE ATLAS

Stars

Zoom in on SN 1987A

February 24, 2017 · ESA/Hubble

Original on ESA/Hubble ↗

This video starts with a view of the night sky as seen from the ground and zooms in onto the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. A further zoom shows the remnants of the supernova explosion 1987A, nestled between red-coloured gas, as they are seen by Hubble. The site of the supernova is surrounded by a ring of material that is illuminated by a wave of energy from the outburst. Two faint outer rings are also visible. All three of these rings existed before the explosion.