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How far away was Supernova 1987A from Earth?
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Supernova
Composite image of Kepler's Nova, or Kepler's Supernova, taken by the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Supernova 1987A was located approximately 160,000 light-years away from Earth.1
It occurred within the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way Galaxy. Observed in 1987, it remains the nearest supernova to have been detected in more than three centuries.12