Close encounter of the first kind?
September 3rd 2007 01:32
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A String of what looks like ‘Pearls’ surrounds an exploding star. The image of Supernova 1987A was taken in December 2006 with Hubble's Advanced Camera
No not really just an exploded star although it does resemble a UFO.
Since that first sighting, the doomed star, called Supernova 1987A, has continued to fascinate astronomers.
Starting out as a bright spot in 1997, but now we can see dozens of spots around the ring. Only Hubble can see the individual bright spots. In the next few years, the entire ring will be ablaze as it absorbs the full force of the explosion. The glowing ring is expected to become bright enough to illuminate the star's surroundings, providing astronomers with new information on how the star expelled material before the explosion.
The pink object in the spectacular light show. NASA`S HST centre of the ring is debris from the supernova blast. The glowing debris is being heated by radioactive elements , created in the explosion. The debris will continue to glow for many decades to come. The origin of a pair of faint outer red rings located above and below the doomed star, is a mystery. The two bright objects hat look like headlights area pair of stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The supernova is located 163,000 light-years away in the LMC.
image: NASA
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