On the February 23-24, 1987 astronomers able to view the Southern skies noticed a new star in the large Magellanic clouds, just on the edges of the Tarantula Nebula, some 160,000 light years from Earth, in a dwarf galaxy that orbits our own Milky Way.
Scientists have been monitoring the explosion ever since, from the early month when the star was visible to the naked eye, to today, a nebula in formation.
The remnants have taken on the classic hour glass shape, however scientists have been trying to keep an eye on the central ring feature to see what was formed, as there was always the possibility that either a neutron star or a black hole was formed.
At the centre appears to be a hot blob, steadily growing in size. The blob itself is not a neutron star, but is thought to be super heated gas and dust expanding from a neutron star within it. Further observations will need to be made to confirm this is what it is, but it’s looking increasingly likely that is the case.
When will the next Supernova occur ?
Supernova occur several times a year, but with the exception of SN1987a and Keplers 1604 Supernova, they are all in other galaxies and not bright enough to make naked eye observation.
While there are a number of interesting candidate supermassive stars we think are within 100,000 years of potential collapse, the truth is, our galaxy has 100 billion stars, and we’ve catalogued about 2% of them.
Of course, a supernova could be happening right now anywhere in our galaxy, and we’d not know due to the vast distances. SN1987a didn’t explode in 1987, it was observed in 1987, but actually went nova 160,000 years ago. Additionally there’s a good 20% or more of stars in our galaxy we simply cannot see, because they are hidden behind the core of our galaxy.
