NASA’s newly refurbished Hubble Space Telescope captured observations of a nearby supernova, which allows astronomers to track “star guts” ejected into space following the cosmic explosion.

The University of Colorado is taking the lead on a new study, which intends to research the make-up and velocity of these star guts.

A team of astronomers is charting the interactions between Supernova 1987A and a glowing gas ring circling around the supernova remnant known as the “String of Pearls,” which is 6 trillion miles in diameter.

The gas ring was likely shed 20,000 years before the supernova exploded. The shockwaves, though, have been brightening some 30 to 40 pearl-like “hot spots” in the ring. Scientists expect those objects will grow and glom together in the future to form a continuous and glowing circle.

Supernova 1987A is close to home: It’s the nearest exploding star to be detected since 1604. It was discovered in 1987 and is near the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy next to the Milky Way Galaxy.

CU research associate Kevin France, of the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy, is the study’s lead author.

“To see a supernova go off in our back yard and to watch its evolution and interactions with the environment in human time scales is unprecedented,” he said. “The massive stars that produce explosions like Supernova 1987A are like rock stars — they live fast, flashy lives and die young.”

Studying supernovae is important because they are the most energetic event in a galaxy at any given time — capable of out-shining the entire galaxy, France said.

“This energy can change the way a galaxy evolves,” he said.

Additionally, France said, supernovae are responsible for a large fraction of important elements, including oxygen, carbon and iron found in plants and animals on Earth today. The iron in a person’s blood, for example, is believed to have been made by supernovae explosions.

In addition to ejecting massive amounts of hydrogen, 1987A has spewed helium, oxygen, nitrogen and rarer heavy elements like sulfur, silicon and iron.

The new observations will allow astronomers to accurately measure the velocity and composition of ejected star guts, which will in turn reveal information about the energy and heavy elements deposited into the host galaxy.

A paper on the subject was published in Thursday’s issue of Science.

The international study involved study co-authors from 15 other universities and institutes and included CU-Boulder astrophysicist Richard McCray.

Hubble is the world’s only observatory that can observe the brightening of the String of Pearls in ultraviolet light, according to France.

Astronauts repaired the Space Telescope in 2008, and installed two instruments built by Boulder’s Ball Aerospace, extending its life until 2013 or longer.

Contact Camera Staff Writer Brittany Anas at 303-473-1132 or anasb@dailycamera.com.