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Supernovas--the violent endings of the brief yet brilliant lives of massive stars--are among the most cataclysmic events in the cosmos. Though supernovas mark the death of stars, they also trigger the birth of new elements and the formation of new molecules. This artist's illustration of Supernova 1987A reveals the cold, inner regions of the exploded star's remnants (red) where tremendous amounts of dust were detected and imaged by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array.
This inner region is contrasted with the outer shell (blue), where the energy from the supernova is colliding (green) with the envelope of gas ejected from the star prior to its powerful detonation.Image credit: A. Angelich; NRAO/AUI/NSF
