Neighbourhood of SN 1987A

Image of the neighbourhood of supernova SN 1987A, taken with the NTT in the light of ionized nitrogen, at La Silla Observatory, during very good seeing. A small filamentary nebula and local reflection nebula are seen. The colour coding shows the intensity contours in the image. SN 1987A was detected in the Large Magellanic Cloud in February 1987 and was the first naked-eye supernova in nearly four centuries. ESO telescopes have been observing SN 1987A for more than twenty years.