Knots of new molecules in heart of exploded star

10 July, 2017 / Read time: 1 minute

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) data created a 3-D image of dust forged in the remnant of a supernova, SN 1987A. The purple areas indicate the location of silicon monoxide (SiO) molecules. The yellow area is the location of carbon monoxide (CO) molecules. The blue ring is actual Hubble data (hydrogen, or H-alpha) that has been artificially expanded into 3-D.

Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), R. Indebetouw; NASA/ESA Hubble. J. Hellerman (NRAO/AUI/NSF)