NASA posted a photo image of the most famous supernova, obtained by the James Webb Space Telescope. This supernova was discovered in 1987, intensively researched and discovered in the Magellanic Cloud, at a distance of 168,000 light years from us. The star that went supernova is called Sandulik -69 202 and is closely related to the American astronomer, whose parents were Romanian.

A supernova is a bright, powerful explosion at the end of a massive star’s existence.

• Click here for James Webb Telescope image (source NASA)

The long-ago supernova star is called Sandulik -69 202 and was discovered by Romanian-American astronomer Nicholas Sandulik. His parents (surname Sanduljak) were Romanian, but emigrated to the USA.

Nicholas Sandulik was born in New York state in 1933 and the star was discovered in 1970. Sandulik made a breakthrough in spectroscopy and identified stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud. He died in 1990 and an asteroid is named after him.

The supernova, discovered 36 years ago, is the brightest in four centuries and marks the destruction of this blue supergiant star called Sanduleak–69,202, a star believed to be 20 times the mass of the Sun.

The star Sanduleak-69 202 was born ten million years ago, and about 168,000 years ago this star exploded and produced the first supernova visible from Earth since the invention of the telescope.

Supernova 1987A is one of the most studied astronomical objects in the Southern Hemisphere sky and is interesting because it shows us in detail what happens when a star ends its life.

The bright rings represent plumes of gas and dust ejected by the star during the various phases of its demise, and these rings are illuminated by shock waves emitted during the collapse and explosion phases. One of the rings resembles a string of pearls.

The image was captured by the space telescope’s NIRCam (Near Infrared Camera) instrument, which was launched on Christmas Day 2021.