New image of SN 1987A

Esahubble_heic1704a_1024

esahubble_heic1704a February 24th, 2017

Credit: NASA, ESA, and R. Kirshner (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation) and P. Challis (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)

This new image of the supernova remnant SN 1987A was taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in January 2017 using its Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). Since its launch in 1990 Hubble has observed the expanding dust cloud of SN 1987A several times and this way helped astronomers to create a better understanding of these cosmic explosions. Supernova 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 Hubbles Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2).

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic1704a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
SN 1987A
Subject - Milky Way
Star > Evolutionary Stage > Supernova
Esahubble_heic1704a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 5h 35m 28.1s
DEC = -69° 16’ 11.5”
Orientation
North is 11.1° CCW
Field of View
2.4 x 2.6 arcminutes
Constellation
Dorado

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (WFC3) Optical (H-Alpha) 657.0 nm
Red Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (I) 814.0 nm
Green Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (V) 555.0 nm
Blue Hubble (WFPC2) Optical (B) 439.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Red
Red
Green
Blue
Esahubble_heic1704a_1280
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ID
heic1704a
Subject Category
B.3.1.8  
Subject Name
SN 1987A
Credits
NASA, ESA, and R. Kirshner (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation) and P. Challis (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)
Release Date
2017-02-24T16:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/heic1704a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
WFC3, WFPC2, WFPC2, WFPC2
Color Assignment
Red, Red, Green, Blue
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
H-Alpha, I, V, B
Central Wavelength
657, 814, 555, 439
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
83.8669252541, -69.269874114
Reference Dimension
3667.0, 4024.0
Reference Pixel
1833.0, 2012.0
Scale
-1.0899442979e-05, 1.0899442979e-05
Rotation
11.12
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
ESA/Hubble
URL
http://www.spacetelescope.org
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
heic1704a
Metadata Date
2017-02-22T13:20:55+01:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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