XMM-Newton's View of Supernova 1987A

By Fraser Cain - February 23, 2007 at 7:50 PM UTC | Stars

I linked you to

an image

of Supernova 1987A taken by the Hubble Space Telescope around the explosion's 20th anniversary. Here's another, this time taken by ESA's XMM-Newton Observatory to show you how it looks in X-rays.

And in the X-ray spectrum, SN 1987A is quite spectacular. It outshines all the nearby X-ray sources, and it's now 10 times brighter than it was when XMM-Newton first observed it back in 2000. The X-rays we see are generated when the expanding supernova shock wave interacts with the surrounding material.

The data gathered by XMM-Newton will help scientists understand how a supernova remnant forms, and eventually reveal the neutron star spinning at the centre.

ESA News Release

Fraser Cain

Fraser Cain

Fraser Cain is the publisher of Universe Today, founding the website in March 1999. He's also the co-host of Astronomy Cast.