Expert: Jayendra Upadhye - 1/10/2005

Question
Hello Jayendra,
I have a copy of National Geographic and another book mentioning the now famous Supernova Sanduleak SN1987A. Both were published soon after the discovery and mention that no Neutron Star had yet been detected at the core. Has that Neutron Star now been detected? How is the Supernova doing, 18 years on?
Thankyou.

Answer
Hi,
The star has been detected by hubble, and astronomers have confirmed it IS the one, based on its apparent velocity of movement away from the blast center.
The displacement has become noticieable now.
I do not recollect where i saw the two comparison pics.
Ill surf and see if i can post the links.

this link :
http://plainviewfarm.tripod.com/agentletterandsynopsis.html
mentions it thus :-
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2. Spackle in the Sky with Diamonds Hal Ventura, astronomer-friend of Hanno Spackle at Cerro Gordo in Peru, has a nagging hunch Spackle is withholding prime information from the scientific community. He is right, as it turns out. Spackle knew about the star that produced the supernova, SN 1987A, for some years--ever since he was awarded his doctorate at Ole Miss, in fact. Earning his degree with a dissertation less than a sentence long--the name of the star he discovered--he “failed” to publish the fact and so years later other astronomers erroneously laid claim to the star. Now, when the star dies and produces the greatest supernova explosion since the Middle Ages, the truth of the matter comes out and Spackle's claim to a place among the stars is indisputable. What else does Spackle know? What else is he hiding? Ventura wonders, with good cause. He tries to cajole Spackle into self-revelation but fails spectacularly.
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the link even gives the name!
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:kmfGbSU5tdQJ:cassfos02.ucsd.edu/public/tuto...
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For the first time astronomers have observations of the star that exploded, the supernova precursor, known as Sk -69 202 from a catalog of stars in the LMC by N. Sanduleak. Sk -69 202, shown in the photograph above was a B3I sopergiant with an atmospheric temperature, T = 16,000K, a luminosity of about 100,000L, and an estimated mass of about 20M. An unexpected aspect of this is that Sk -69 202 was a blue supergiant (note temperature and spectral type) rather than a red supergiant.
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so search for "Sk -69 202" in google for more info.
Jayen