.This graphic, released on Feb. 24, 2017, presents Supernova 1987a (center) bordered through impressive reddish clouds of gas and also dust within the Large Magellanic Cloud. This supernova, first found on Feb. 23, 1987, blazed with the electrical power of 100 million Suns. Because that initial glimpse, SN 1987A has actually remained to captivate stargazers along with its own spectacular sound-and-light show. Located in the nearby Big Magellanic Cloud, it was the nearby supernova surge observed in centuries and also the greatest possibility yet for astronomers to research the periods prior to, during, and after the fatality of a celebrity.Photo credit score: NASA, ESA, R. Kirshner (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics as well as Gordon as well as Betty Moore Foundation), and M. Mutchler and R. Avila (STScI).