Jan 14, 2011 07:27 GMT  ·  By

Astronomer say that the supernova closest to our planet is called SN 1987A. They say that the precursor star in which the event originated blew up millennia ago, and add that the object is located very close in astronomical terms, in a neighboring galaxy.

As its name implies, SN 1987A was first seen in 1987, the first such event to be noticed from here since the supernova explosion detailed by early astronomers in 1604. Its remnants can now be seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy orbiting the Milky Way.

The object is interesting from several perspectives, most notably because of its emissions. In addition to spreading extremely large amounts of hydrogen gas in its surroundings, it also produces helium, nitrogen, oxygen and a whole bunch of heavier chemical elements.

Stars and their end-life events, supernovae, produce all of the Universe's heavy chemical elements, such as sulfur, silicon and iron. These then go on to be recycled in stellar nurseries, and are used to produce new stars, featuring accompanying planets as well.

All of the plants and animals that can be found on Earth today are made up of chemicals that originated from supernova events and from stellar factories, experts say. SN 1987A in particular is believed to have exploded around 161,000 BC.

Its light only reached Earth in 1987 because it is located some 163,000 light-years away. According to experts, a supernova event occurs on average once per galaxy per century. But there are billions upon billions of galaxies in the observable Universe.

The light produced by stellar explosions can at times briefly outshine an entire galaxy, especially if the star that blew up is massive enough. These events may also produce large black holes, or neutron stars, astrophysicists say.

Experts from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), in Greenbelt, Maryland estimated that as much as 1 billion stars go supernova every single year throughout the Universe. That is the equivalent of about 30 such explosions per second.

Some astronomers believe that, while supernovae may indeed contribute to producing the seeds of life in the Universe, they may also be the main reason why it proves so difficult to find it elsewhere in the Cosmos too.

Whenever stars blow up, that particular area of the Universe where they reside gets all potential life wiped out. If a really nearby star were to go supernova, life on Earth would be severely affected, possibly by an extinction event, Daily Galaxy reports.

“To see a supernova go off in our backyard and to watch its evolution and interactions with the environment in human time scales is unprecedented,” explains Kevin France, a research associate at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

“The massive stars that produce explosions like Supernova 1987A are like rock stars -- they live fast, flashy lives and die young,” adds the expert, who also holds an appointment at the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy.