Sanduleak -69° 202
Blue supergiant (B3 Ia) · Sk -69 202
Progenitor of Supernova 1987A
The star that exploded as Supernova 1987A, the brightest and nearest supernova seen since 1604. A blue supergiant of about 20 solar masses, it stunned astronomers by detonating from a blue rather than a red state, and its light (with a burst of neutrinos) reached Earth in February 1987.
Illustration generated from temperature, not a photograph
20.0 ☉
mass (the Sun = 1)
100,000 ×
as bright as the Sun
16,000 K
surface · blue-white star
41 R☉
radius (the Sun = 1)
163,000 ly
from Earth
12.0
apparent magnitude
Small telescope needed4-6" (100-150 mm) telescope · apparent magnitude 12.0
It pours out about 100,000 times the Sun’s light. Its light has been travelling 163,000 years to reach us, so you see Sanduleak -69° 202 as it was 163,000 years ago.
Source · West et al. 1987, A&A 177, L1
It lives in
Large Magellanic Cloud
Irregular galaxy, 163,000 ly away.
Other notable stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud
R136a1Wolf-Rayet star (WN5h)R136a2Wolf-Rayet star (WN5h)Melnick 42O-type supergiant (O2 If)VFTS 682Wolf-Rayet star (WN5h)HD 269810O-type giant (O2 III)Melnick 34Wolf-Rayet binary (WN5h + WN5h)
Stars of similar brightness
AntaresRed supergiant75,858 ×HV 2112Red supergiant (Thorne-Zytkow candidate)63,096 ×SaiphBlue supergiant60,256 ×BetelgeuseRed supergiant59,979 ×MintakaHot blue giant multiple star190,108 ×DenebBlue-white supergiant195,884 ×
Worlds in the same direction on the sky→