A Supernova explosion that occurred in 1987 from a massive star can still be seen today after three decades. The massive star explosion was called "Supernova 1987A," this took place only 160,000 light years away from Earth in satellite galaxy of the Milky Way known as the Large Magellanic Cloud.
It was the biggest observed Supernova and one of the closest to the Earth, astronomers got the opportunity to study the phase during its time and even after the star had died as per Space. This year has been the 30th anniversary of the Supernova 1987A. It also holds the record for the best studied Supernova ever because of its early detection and relative proximity to Earth.
Officials from the European Space Agency stated that before "Supernova 1987A" their knowledge was simplistic and idealized. The Hubble space telescope had the potential to study the Supernova in great detail and it was the first to witness the event in high resolution.
Later on in 1999, the Chandra X-ray telescope has also been watching the expanding cloud of gas and remnant star material over the past years. The latest observation shows that the gas and remnant star material was ejected 20,000 years before the Supernova explosion actually occurred.
Initially some of the material was carried away from the dying star by slow - moving stellar winds, but when the star neared to end its life it evolved into a hot body and generated faster stellar winds. This eventually caused the slower material to pile up and form the concentric ring like structures, which is observed around the exploded star.
It was the initially birth of light from the Supernova that illuminated the rings, after the first decade of the explosion it slowly faded away. But the shock wave of the Supernova slammed into the inner ring in 2001, observing the "Supernova 1987A for three decades has brought a better understanding of its functions to astronomers.
