John M. Blondin (North Carolina State University)

One of the most exciting astronomical events of the 20th century occurred in February 1987 when the first naked-eye supernova in centuries appeared in the Large Magellanic Cloud. In the past decade, three rings of glowing matter have developed around the explosion site. Astronomers have shown that the rings are made of material that surrounded the supernova's progenitor star. This visualization shows how that sort of cold, dark material can begin to glow when a supernova blast wave crashes into it.

Supernova shock

In the movie, you see a cross-section view of one possible glowing smoke ring. Imagine the supernova blast wave traveling from left to right; the circle on the right hand side represents a doughnut of cold gas being hit by the blast wave. The calculation shows that the blast wave plows into the ring like a blowtorch; much of the gas is blown away, while the rest is set aglow by the blast wave's powerful kinetic energy. The gas reaches temperatures in the millions of degrees, hot enough to glow in X-rays as well as ultraviolet, visible, and infrared light.

Charles Liu

John M. Blondin (North Carolina State University)

Supernova 1987A was the explosion of a massive star in a nearby galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud. One of the mysteries of a supernova such as 1987A is: what does the blast wave of the explosion do to the surrounding space? This movie shows a simulation of a supernova blast wave striking layers of gas and dust surrounding the supernova progenitor star.

Supernova blast wave

Astrophysicists hypothesize that when a supernova blast wave strikes nearby layers of gas and dust, the heat and energy released will create swirling rings, loops, and tendrils of matter glowing and expanding for thousands of years until a gaseous structure called a supernova remnant is created. The Crab Nebula and the Gum Nebula are two famous supernova remnants.

The simulation

This particular movie uses a supercomputer to calculate the complex physical processes involved, studying the details of the birth of a supernova remnant. The different colors in the movie show the amount of heat energy in each part of the blast wave and the proto-remnant as they interact; blue is low energy, yellow is medium energy, and red is high energy.

Charles Liu