Jumping Through Hoops

An artist's concept shows bubbles of hot gas racing into space from the exploded star known as Supernova 1987A. The blast created big shock waves, shown by the outer red rings, as well as bubbles of gas that are racing into space at several percent of the speed of light. A central ring is created by slower material that is heated by the decay of radioactive elements created in the explosion. The illustration is based on recent observations made with the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile. [ESO/L. Calçada]