Comet Enthusiast

Supernova 1987A, discovered in 1987, is the closest exploding star to Earth to be detected since 1604 and resides in the nearby Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy adjacent to our own Milky Way Galaxy. In addition to ejecting massive amounts of hydrogen, 1987A has spewed helium, oxygen, nitrogen and rarer heavy elements like sulfur, silicon and iron. Supernovae are responsible for a large fraction of biologically important elements, including oxygen, carbon and iron found in plants and animals on Earth today. Since the supernova is roughly 163,000 light-years away, the explosion occurred in roughly 161,000 B.C. (One light year is about 6 trillion miles).