                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                               2019 February 24
                   The Expanding Echoes of Supernova 1987A
              Video Credit & Copyright: David Malin [2] , AAT [3]

Explanation: Can you find supernova 1987A? It isn't hard -- it occurred at the
center of the expanding bullseye pattern [4] . Although this stellar
detonation was first seen in 1987, light from SN 1987A [5]  continued to
bounce off clumps of interstellar dust [6] and be reflected to us even many
years later. Light echoes [7]  recorded between 1988 and 1992 by the Anglo
Australian Telescope [8]  (AAT) in Australia [9] are shown moving out from the
position of the supernova in the featured time-lapse sequence. These images
were composed by subtracting an LMC image taken before the supernova [10]
light arrived from later LMC images that included the supernova echo. Other
prominent light echo [11] sequences include those taken by the EROS2 [12]  and
SuperMACHO [13]  sky monitoring projects. Studies [14]  of expanding light
echo [15] rings around other supernovas have enabled more accurate
determinations of the location, date, and symmetry [16]  of these tremendous
stellar explosions. Yesterday marked the 32nd anniversary of SN 1987A [17] :
the last recoded supernova in or around our Milky Way Galaxy [18] , and the
last to be visible to the unaided eye.

Open Science: Browse 1,800+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library [19]

                        Tomorrow's picture: sky sprite

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
< [20] | Archive [21] | Submissions [22] | Index [23] | Search [24] | Calendar
  [25] | RSS [26] | Education [27] | About APOD [28] | Discuss [29] | > [30]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [31] (MTU [32] ) & Jerry Bonnell [33]
                                  (UMCP [34] )
          NASA Official:  Phillip Newman Specific rights apply [35] .
              NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices [36]
              A service of: ASD [37]  at NASA [38]  / GSFC [39]
                           & Michigan Tech. U. [40]
----------
Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] https://www.davidmalin.com/dfm/general/about_dfm.html
  [3] https://www.aao.gov.au/about-us/AAT
  [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullseye_(target)
  [5] http://heritage.stsci.edu/1999/04/sn1987anino.html
  [6] ap030706.html
  [7]
http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/images/
2662-ssc2005-14d-Illustration-of-a-Light-Echo
  [8] https://www.aao.gov.au/about-us/anglo-australian-telescope
  [9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia
  [10] https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/snr.html
  [11] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_echo
  [12] http://eros.in2p3.fr/EchoesSN1987a/
  [13] ap060125.html
  [14] https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0510738
  [15] https://arxiv.org/abs/1506.02643
  [16] http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013ApJ...767...45S
  [17] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1987A
  [18] https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/285/the-milky-way-galaxy/
  [19] http://ascl.net/code/all
  [20] ap190223.html
  [21] archivepix.html
  [22] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [23] lib/aptree.html
  [24] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  [25] calendar/allyears.html
  [26] /apod.rss
  [27] lib/edlinks.html
  [28] lib/about_apod.html
  [29] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=190224
  [30] ap190225.html
  [31] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [32] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [33] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  [34] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [35] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [36] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  [37] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [38] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [39] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [40] http://www.mtu.edu/
