Page 12, Stars II

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Supernova 1987 A in the Large Magellanic Clouds

This was the first time a star we had previously known went supernova. The star was Sk -69 202. NOW when we look for this star, we see:

Spectra taken ten years earlier showed SK -69 202 to be a normal Blue Supergiant. It's Main Sequence mass was about 20 Suns.

The central object in the picture, which is the surface of the exploding star, has recently become detected using the Hubble Space Telescope. It is expanding at about 12,000 km/second!

Peculiarities of SN 1987A:

It was a BLUE Supergiant! This has lead to a re-examination of massive star evolutionary models.

SN 1987A did not get as bright as normal Type II SN, and had a strange spectrum.

The Rings are thought to be left over from an earlier evolutionary state, perhaps when the star Sk -69 202 was a red Supergiant.