SN1987A: A Case Study
As detected by Terrestrial observers at Las Campanas Observatory,
SN1987A
went off on February 23, 1987 at 07:35:02.4.
However, as its home, the Large Magellanic Cloud
is ~ 169,000 light years from the Earth, it actually went off
169,000 years before February 23, 1987. SN1987A,
due to its
proximity, was the brightest supernova in the last 383 years and
since it was
visible by the naked eye is referred to as a
historical supernova.
Importantly, it is the only historical supernova
to have gone off in
modern (technological) times and so is the most well-studied supernova of
all time. SN 1987a has taught
us many things about supernova outbursts. Here, we look at some of the
issues SN1987A helped to clarify.
Issues
- Progenitor stars for Type II Supernovae:
Sk -69 202 → Type II SN come from the death of massive stars
- Outburst mechanism for Type II Supernovae:
Detection of neutrinos → core-collapse in a
massive star is the
mechanism that produces Type II SN
- Element production in Type II Supernovae:
Observations of the lightcurve of SN1987A pinned down
our understanding of
heavy element production by Type II SN
