The Mysterious Rings of Supernova 1987A
What's causing those odd rings in supernova 1987A? In 1987, the brightest supernova in recent history occurred in the Large Magellanic Clouds . At the center of the picture is an object central to the remains of the violent stellar explosion . When the Hubble Space Telescope was pointed at the supernova remnant in 1994, however, the existence of curious rings was confirmed . The origins of these rings still remains a mystery. Speculation into the cause of the rings includes beamed jets emanating from a dense star left over from the supernova, and a superposition of two stellar winds ionized by the supernova explosion. Meanwhile, astronomers have just reported the possible appearance of a new ring feature .