SN 1987A was a peculiar type II supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud , a dwarf galaxy satellite of the Milky Way . It occurred approximately 51.4 kiloparsecs (168,000 light-years ) from Earth and was the closest observed supernova since Kepler's Supernova , visible from earth in 1604. 1987A's light reached Earth on February 23, 1987, [5] and as the first supernova discovered that year, was labeled "1987A". Its brightness peaked in May, with an apparent magnitude of about 3. It was the first opportunity for modern astronomers to study the development of a supernova in great detail, and its observations have provided much insight into core-collapse supernovae . SN 1987A provided the first chance to confirm by direct observation the radioactive source of the energy for visible light emissions, by detecting predicted gamma-ray line radiation from two of its abundant radioactive nuclei. This proved the radioactive nature of the long-duration post-explosio...
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