Technical facts about this news release:
| About the Object |
| Object Name: |
SN 1987A |
| Object Description: |
Supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) |
| Position (J2000): |
R.A. 05h 35m 28s.26
Dec. -69° 16' 13".0 |
| Constellation: |
Dorado |
| Distance: |
Approximately 160,000 light-years (49 kiloparsecs) away |
| Dimensions: |
Each single image of the SN 1987A ring is roughly 9 arcseconds wide. At the distance of the LMC, this represents 9.5 light-years (2.9 parsecs). |
|
| About the Data |
| Data Description: |
The primary image released comes from ACS/HRC data from the HST proposal 10867: R. Kirshner (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics). |
| Instrument: |
WFPC2 and ACS/HRC |
| Exposure Date(s): |
WFPC2: September 24, 1994; February 6, 1998; March 23, 2001
ACS/HRC: January 5, 2003; December 12, 2004; December 6, 2006 |
| Filters: |
F435W (B), F555W (V), and F625W (R) |
|
| About the Image |
| Image Credit: |
NASA, ESA, P. Challis, and R. Kirshner (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) |
| Release Date: |
February 22, 2007 |
| Color: |
This image is a composite of many separate exposures made by the WFPC2 and ACS instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope using several different filters. Three filters were used to sample broad wavelength ranges. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic image. In this case, the assigned colors are:
| F435W (B) |
blue |
| F555W (V) |
green |
| F625W (R) |
red |
|
| Orientation: |
 |
|
