XMM-Newton's anniversary view of Supernova 1987A
Fri Feb 23, 2007 at 19:04 UTC
Twenty years after the first detection of SN 1987A, the nearest supernova ever detected since the invention of the telescope, XMM-Newton provided a fresh-new view of this object. The source keeps brightening - XMM-Newton confirms.
The supernova SN 1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud is the nearest supernova detected since the invention of the telescope. Almost 20 years after its discovery on 23 February 1987, XMM-Newton observed the stellar remnant in X-rays on 17 January 2007.
Continuously brightening since the first detection in X-rays by ROSAT in 1992, it now outshines all other X-ray sources in its immediate neighbourhood and it is more than ten times brighter as compared to the first-light observations of XMM-Newton in January 2000.
SN 1987A provides the unique opportunity for detailed studies of the earliest stages of a supernova remnant.
Image Credit: ESA/EPIC/MPE
High resolution image
Composite colour image of the region of the sky around the supernova SN 1987A obtained from the three EPIC cameras on board ESA's XMM-Newton on 17 January 2007. X-rays from different energy bands are coded in red (0.2-1.0 keV), green (1.0-2.0 keV) and blue (2.0-4.5 keV. The supernova SN 1987A appears as bright object near the centre of the image.
Image Credit: ESA/EPIC/MPE
High resolution image
This X-ray colour image made with the EPIC camera on ESA's XMM-Newton in January 2000, shows part of a small companion galaxy to the Milky Way, the Large Magellanic Cloud, where stellar explosions are releasing newly manufactured elements, and new stars are being formed. The supernova SN 1987A appears in this image, ten times less bright than in the image of the same object XMM-Newton obtained in January 2007.
The image is made so as to reveal the temperature of the X-ray emitting medium, with blue indicating the hottest regions; green the intermediate temperatures and red the coldest regions. Most of the 'blue' X-rays have not been observed before, and it is the collecting power of XMM that enables these observations.
Observations across the whole electromagnetic spectrum revealed a detailed picture of the circumstellar medium produced by the stellar wind from the massive pregenitor star during its 'supergiant' phases.
The X-rays we see mainly originate from the interaction of the supernova shock with this circumstellar medium. Their detailed analysis will gain further insights into the physics of the explosion and may reveal eventually the presence of a central compact object like a neutron star.
European Space Agency News Release
