October 23, 1997
Even the most precise clock in the world cannot measure how unlikely your existence really is.
Echos of Supernova 1987A
Birthday · October 23, 1997
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APOD published October 23, 1997. Credit: Anglo-Australian Telescope Board. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Can you find Supernova 1987a? It's not hard - it occurred in the center of the bulls-eye pattern. Although this stellar detonation was seen more than a decade ago, light from it continues to bounce off nearby interstellar dust and be reflected to us. These two rings are thus echoes of the powerful supernova. As time goes on, these echoes appear to expand outward from the center. The above image was created by subtracting a picture taken before 1987, from a picture taken after.
Image credit: Anglo-Australian Telescope Board