eso_eso8705d March 3rd, 1987
Credit: ESO
Last colour photo before the supernova explosion in LMC. This colour photo of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) was obtained with a 6 x 6 camera mounted piggy-back on a large telescope at the ESO La Silla Observatory, on February 23 at UT 01:00, a few hours before the supernova exploded. It is the last colour photo obtained before this event. Comparing this photo with a similar one obtained two days later, and which shows the supernova reveals a faint star at the position of the supernova; it is the progenitor Sanduleak -69 202, a 12th magnitude B3 I star.
Provider: European Southern Observatory
Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso8705d/
Curator: European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, Germany
Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Detailed color mapping information coming soon...
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