Stellar Ghost

The aftermath of the brightest and closest supernova in four centuries shines from the Large Magellanic Cloud, a companion galaxy to Earth, in this composite 1990s image from Hubble Space Telescope. Supernova 1987A is the bright star encircled by red rings left of center. It was discovered in February 1987, and astronomers are still studying it intensely today. It was born from a star that was much bigger and heavier than the Sun. The star's core collapsed and its outer layers were blasted into space. As debris from the explosion hit clouds of dust and gas around the original star, it formed the bright rings seen in this image. The supernova was about 170,000 light-years from Earth.[Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI/NASA)]