Hubble Telescope Detects Supernova’s Shock Wave Hitting Ring Around Dying Star

The Hubble Space Telescope has captured images of a cosmic collision between a supernova’s shock wave and a gaseous ring around the dying star. The supernova, known as 1987a for the year its explosion was detected, has been sending a shock wave out for nearly 11 years, but this is the first time that scientists have seen the shock wave slamming into the wide gaseous ring that encircles the doomed star.

Moving at 40 million mph, the shock wave has already raised a knot of gas at one point in the encircling ring. Scientists believe that in the next 10 years, the shock wave will move out in a powerful ripple to light up the entire inner edge of the ring. The ring itself is about 6 trillion miles wide.

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Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II