Honeycomb structure around SN 1987A

This frame was obtained by NTT and EMMI in 1992, with 10 minutes exposure in H-alpha. It shows an interesting honeycomb structure in the interstellar matter around supernova SN1987A, which lies at the centre of the structure, in the lower left. SN 1987A, detected in 1987 in the nearby Large Magellanic Cloud was the closest supernova for several centuries, the first visible by naked-eye for 383 years and definitely one of the most studied objects in modern astronomy. ESO telescopes have been observing SN 1987A for more than twenty years.

More information in ESO Messenger 69, p34: http://www.eso.org/sci/publications/messenger/archive/no.69-sep92/messenger-no69.pdf