Scientists produce 3D image of a supernova

Astronomers have obtained a 3D image of an exploding star, or supernova, for the first time. The team, using the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) aptly-named Very Large Telescope in Chile, studied supernova 1987A, which lies in the Large Magellanic Cloud, around 165,000 light-years from earth.

The 3D image show that the star exploded in one main direction. The first material to be ejected during the explosion travelled at 100 million km per hour - about 100,000 times faster than a passenger jet.

Even at this speed it has taken 10 years to reach a previously existing ring of gas and dust puffed out by the star while it was dying. The images also show another wave of material is travelling ten times more slowly and is being heated by radioactive elements created in the explosion.

The supernova was seen in 1987 and was the first to be visible with the naked eye in 383 years.

The video was created from images of the supernova taken by ESO telescopes, and ends with an artist's impression of the exploding star. The supernova comprises two outer rings, an inner ring and the deformed, innermost expelled material.

The research is to be published in the academic journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. Recently the same telescope found the brightest star ever recorded, which also lies in the Large Megellenic Cloud. ·