As detected by Terrestrial observers,SN1987A went off on February 23, 1987 at 07:35:02.4. However, as its home, the Large Magellanic Cloud, is ~ 169,000 light years from the Earth, it actually went off 169,000 years ago (and we are just now detecting it). SN1987A due to its proximity, was the brightest supernova in the last 383 years and being visible with the naked eye is referred to as a historical supernova. As such, it is the most well-studied supernova of all time and has taught us many things about supernova outbursts. Here, we look at some of the issues SN1987A helped to clarify.
