Has it really been 20 years since Sanduleak -69 202 blew up? Wow. Of course, that's Supernova 1987A to you. And if that doesn't ring a bell, this image might:
That image, from Hubble, was released as part of the 20th anniversary of the closest supernova in 400 years. It's amazing-- we know so much about this event now, and I know a lot of people -- including me -- who would have killed for this knowledge back in, say, 1990. But we still don't understand a lot about it too. If you want a history of this object, I won't belabor it here, since I have details in an article I wrote about 87A. In fact, that is the first part of a series of short articles I wrote about the supernova (at the end of each is a link to the next). But the early days were very ...
