noaoann04017 — Announcement

First High-Res Image of Dust Around Supernova 1987A

27 July 2004

Infrared observations of SN 1987A made in October 2003 as part of the checkout of the new Thermal-Region Camera Spectrograph (T-ReCS) instrument on Gemini South have revealed emission from a cool dust ring that is surprisingly luminous. It co-exists with hot gas components left over from the relic equatorial ring featured prominently in data from other observatories in wavelengths from X-ray to radio.