Supernovae | Astronomy.com

A grainy astronomical photograph shows three bright glowing shapes arranged in a slight horizontal arc across a dark blue background. At the center, a fuzzy, pale yellow oval ring encircles a small, bright red dot. Flanking the ringed shape on either side are two bright, soft-edged blue-white spheres, with high contrast separating the luminous central objects from the surrounding dark expanse.

Today in the History of Astronomy

Aug. 29, 1990: Hubble sees Supernova 1987A clearly

Is this the first known binary system to produce two supernova remnants?

A James Webb Space Telescope deep field image showing hundreds of distant galaxies scattered across a black background in a range of shapes — spirals, ellipticals, and elongated streaks — in colors from white and blue to orange and red. A large, detailed barred spiral galaxy with a bright white core and faint blue spiral arms dominates the center-left of the frame. Several foreground stars display the distinctive six-pointed diffraction spikes characteristic of JWST imagery.

Cosmology, Stars

JWST studies a supernova near the dawn of time

A large, oval-shaped cloud of colorful gas expands outward across the frame against a black background dotted with tiny stars. The center of the cloud glows with a bright, hazy blue-white light, which transitions into an intricate web of yellow, green, and fiery red filaments weaving along the outer edges. There is sharp contrast between the vibrant, glowing gases of the central structure and the dark void of space surrounding it.

Today in the History of Astronomy

July 4, 1054: The Crab Nebula supernova explodes

Today in the History of Astronomy

March 24, 1893: The birth of Walter Baade

Today in the History of Astronomy

Feb. 23, 1987: Supernova 1987A is spotted

How AI helped uncover a new type of supernova

Astronomers may have detected a first-of-its-kind superkilonova

Today in the History of Astronomy

Sept. 20, 2016: Spotting a supernova shock breakout

JWST spies the aftermath of a famous supernova

Astronomers discover a perfectly spherical supernova remnant

SN 1987A

When was the last supernova seen in the Milky Way?