This 1994 image from the Hubble Space Telescope is of the site around Supernova 1987A. It shows a ring of dust and gas that has been ejected from the surface of a dying star. Albert Jones was one of the co-discoverers of this famous supernova, which first became visible in February 1987. A supernova is evidence of the death throes of a massive star, in this case one which exploded about 170,000 years ago. It had taken that long for light from the exploding star to reach earth.
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Reference: NASA, P. Challis, R. Kirshner (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics) and B. Sugerman (STScI)
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