Data from Chandra and NuSTAR provide evidence for the existence of a structure known as a "pulsar wind nebula" at the center of the Supernova 1987A (SN 1987A). A pulsar wind nebula is a cloud of charged particles and magnetic fields created by a rapidly spinning neutron star. If confirmed, this would be the culmination of a decades-long pursuit to find the dense core left behind when the massive star collapsed and then exploded. This supernova event was discovered on February 24, 1987, making it the first captured in the age of telescopes.

This photograph shows a 3D print of the SN 1987A supernova remnant at its current observed age of 30 years, based on 3D simulations by Salvatore Orlando. The blast wave from the supernova has crashed into a pre-existing ring of gas, throwing blobs of this gas upwards and downwards. Small blobs of gas that were disconnected from other blobs or from the ring were removed from the model to improve ease of printing, using 3D animation software and using Ultimaker's Cura software to slice the STL files, with support structures turned on. This photo shows prints with two different colors, including support structures that have to be manually removed. The remaining parts of the ring are clearly visible in red in the print on the right. Using the Ultimaker 3 printer these models took about 15 hours to print. Also included is a 3D printable file of the 3D modeled illustration of the pulsar wind nebula.

Stereolithography Files (.stl): Supernova 1987A, Pulsar Wind Nebula

OBJ Files (.obj): Supernova 1987A, Pulsar Wind Nebula