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Heavenly FireworksSN 1987A was a blue super giant, that is before it exploded in huge super-nova in February of 1987. “This is the closest super-nova to have gone off since a super-nova in the Milky Way in 1604 observed by Kepler.”(Arizona 1) 1987A looks much like an hourglass with its shell of exploded materials escaping into the surrounding space. “[T]he super-nova remnant . . . is surrounded by inner and outer ring structures, with the whole object set within huge clouds of diffuse emitting gas.”(Heritage 1) The rings of gases expand relatively slowly, 70,000-100,000 miles per hour. In comparison the “super-nova material in the center is expanding outward at speeds that are 100-2000 times higher.”(Heritage 1) Interestingly some astronomers say that a pulsar was not created when 1987A super-novae. It was thought that magnetic field submergence into the remaining core caused this, the magnetic field being frozen in place by the ram pressures exerted on the core at the time of explosion, and may never become a pulsar. Other astronomers theorize, and seem to have observed, that in-deed a pulsar exists, and that it is spinning around in under a millisecond per burst. There is still a large cloud of debris surrounding the core, making it hard to see. Astronomers expect this faster moving matter to impact the slower outer rings and create great light shows from the particles interacting with each other. This star that so clearly super-novae in February 1987, has many mysteries associated with it, that astronomers are continue to solve. As time goes on hopefully with careful observations we will unravel these questions and continue to watch the spectacular fireworks occurring in the heavens above us. Sources Arizona: http://ircamera.as.arizona.edu/NatSci102/lectures/sn1987a.htm Heritage: http://heritage.stsci.edu/1999/04/sn1987anino.html Geppert, Ulrich; Page, Dany, and Zannias, Thomas; Submergence and re-diffusion of the neutron star magnetic field after the supernova, http://aa.springer.de/papers/9345003/2300847.pdf Nagataki, Shigehiro; Sato Katsuhiko: Implications of the discovery of a millisecond pulsar in SN 1987A, http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/astro-ph/pdf/0011/0011363.pdfBACK TO ASTRONOMY HOME |