The supernova explosion was first spotted in 1987 and is among the brightest supernova within the last 400 years.
The growing number of bright spots on the ring was produced by an onslaught of material unleashed by the explosion. The shock wave of material hit the ring’s innermost regions, heating them up, and causing them to glow. The ring, about one light-year across, was probably shed by the star about 20,000 years before the star exploded.
Supernova SN 1987A is located in the centre of the image amidst a backdrop of stars. The bright ring around the central region of the exploded star is composed of material ejected by the star about 20,000 years before the actual explosion took place.
The supernova is surrounded by gaseous clouds. The clouds’ red colour represents the glow of hydrogen gas. The colours of the foreground and background stars were added from observations taken by Hubble’s Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2).
