New Views of Supernova 1987A Reveal Giant Dust Factory

New submitter ihtoit writes "Astronomers using the ALMA radio telescope in Chile have released images and data showing the oft-postulated but unobserved (until now) dust shell ejected by the supernova remnant SN1987A. 'We have found a remarkably large dust mass concentrated in the central part of the ejecta from a relatively young and nearby supernova,' astronomer Remy Indebetouw, of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) and the University of Virginia, said in a statement. 'This is the first time we've been able to really image where the dust has formed, which is important in understanding the evolution of galaxies.' SN1987A was the first cataloged supernova event in our Galactic neighborhood in 1987. It lies 168,000 light years (987 quadrillion miles) away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, which means that at the time of the explosion, woolly mammoths still roamed Europe and Mitochondrial Eve saw her first sunrise." From the article, the significance: "'Really early galaxies are incredibly dusty and this dust plays a major role in the evolution of galaxies,' Mikako Matsuura, a scientist associated with the study ... said ... 'Today we know dust can be created in several ways, but in the early universe most of it must have come from supernovas. We finally have direct evidence to support that theory.'"

Anticipating the new scare in mainstream media

[BisuDagger]

Global Dusting! "'Really early galaxies are incredibly dusty and this dust plays a major role in the evolution of galaxies,' Our next goal is to create a vacuum large enough to slow down global dusting and the creation of new galaxies. Sources cite that Spaceballs has offered their maid services for a fair price.

Friggin' supernovas AGAIN.

[QilessQi]

Today we know dust can be created in several ways, but in the early universe most of it must have come from supernovas.

Supernovas, as every landlord can tell you, are awful tenants. They trash the property for light years around, leave dust bunnies the size of nebulae under the furniture, and clog up the drains with heavy elements. Yeah, we know they have a lot of pent-up energy to blow off, but I was the one who cleaned up after Cygnus X-1 was evicted and I found this huge friggin' hole they'd punched into the side of the cosmos. I mean, seriously kids, have some pride, it's your spacetime too. I can't even patch it up with drywall: the stuff just crumples up and disappears. Now the security deposit's gone and I'm out $3B to Home Depot. Next time I'm only renting to brown dwarfs.

false alarm

[TheGratefulNet]

as it turns out, they were viewing it thru an SN7404 and so the image was actually inverted.