Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Hubble Space Telescope Collection
Title:
Shock Wave Sheds New Light on Fading Supernova
General Information:
What is a Space Science Update?

Major Hubble discoveries on NASA television ... Astronomers explain their Hubble discoveries at a press conference, called a Space Science Update (SSU), broadcast on NASA television. The SSU includes a question and answer session with members of the media.

The Hubble telescope is giving astronomers a ringside seat to a never-before-seen titanic collision of an onrushing stellar shock wave with an eerie glowing gas ring encircling a nearby stellar explosion, called supernova 1987A.

Though the star's self-destruction was first seen nearly 11 years ago on Feb. 23, 1987, astronomers are just now beginning to witness its tidal wave of energy reaching the "shoreline" of the immense light-year-wide ring. Shocked by the 40-million-mile-per- hour sledgehammer blow, a 100-billion-mile-wid e knot of gas in a piece of the ring has already begun to "light up," as its temperature surges from a few thousand degrees to a million degrees Fahrenheit. For comparison, the Hubble image on the left was taken before the collision. The picture on the right shows a glowing ball of gas [denoted by arrow].

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note:
*Release Date*:February 10, 1998 12:00 AM (EST)
note:
*Title*:Shock Wave Sheds New Light on Fading Supernova
note:
*News Release Number:*: STScI-1998-08c
facet_what:
supernova
facet_when:
February 10, 1998
facet_when_year:
1998
UID:
SPD-HUBBLE-STScI-199 8-08c
original url:
Release Date:
February 10, 1998 12:00 AM (EST)

Shock Wave Sheds New Light on Fading Supernova