Abstract
Speckle interferometry observations, made just 30 and 38 days after the explosion of SN 1987A (which was first seen in 1987 February 23), showed evidence of a bright source separated from the SN by only 60 mas. The reprocessing of that data, using new image reconstruction algorithms, has resulted in much cleaner images that not only clearly show the bright spot reported in 1987 but also show a second spot on the opposite side of the SN with a larger spatial separation. If the spots were ejected from the SN, then the velocities of the spots are relativistic; the second spot appears to be superluminal and must be blueshifted. We explore the consequences of these results on the geometry of the SN 1987A system, and we conclude that our observations may well be evidence of relativistic jets emanating from the supernova.
Export citation and abstract BibTeX RIS