SN 1987A: A complex physical laboratory

Abstract

SN 1987A is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud and thus close enough to study the very late time evolution of a supernova and its transition to a supernova remnant. After almost two decades the supernova ejecta have now reached the pre-explosion circumstellar ring and started to interact with it. The system presents a complex structure involving forward and reflected shocks with highly diferent physical conditions in close spatial proximity. The supernova ring system is currently observed in X-rays (Park et al. 2004,2005), optical (Graves et al. 1996, Michael et al. 2003), mid-infrared (Bouchet et al. 2004) and radio (Manchester et al. 2005). The near-infrared data presented here complement all this. Based on science verification observations with SINFONI we present the supernovaring interaction as it appears in the near-infrared. SINFONI's adaptive optics supported integral field spectrograph spatially resolves the ring and the data thus provide new information and details for this unique object. © 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.