X-ray emission from supernova 1987A

3D ModelNoAI

X-ray emission produced during the interaction of the blast wave from supernova 1987A (the final fate of a massive star) and the inhomogeneous circumstellar medium characterized by a dense ring of material. During the interaction, the gas is heated up to temperatures of millions degrees and emits X-rays. In dark-red the less intense X-ray emitting regions, in yellow the most intense. The yellow blobs are due to shocked clumps of the ring around the supernova that formed well before the supernova explosion due to the winds of the progenitor star. The supernova exploded on February 23, 1987 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy satellite of the Milky Way at a distance of 168,000 light-years. The X-ray emission at the age of 30 years after the outburst has been synthesized from a 3D hydrodynamic model available at this link.

Reference: Orlando et al. 2015, ApJ 810, id.168.

Credits: INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Palermo. The Milky Way image is from ESO/S. Brunier.