Abstract I briefly review the story of the SN 1987A explosion, with special emphasis on the most recent findings. It appears that although this supernova was somewhat peculiar, the study of SN 1987A has clarified quite a number of important aspects of the nature and the properties of supernovae in general, such as the confirmation of the core collapse of a massive star as the cause of the explosion, as well the confirmation that the decays ^{56}Ni-^{56}Co-^{56}Fe at early times and ^{44}Ti-^{44}Sc at late times, are the main sources of the energy radiated by the ejecta. Still we have not been able to ascertain unambiguously whether the progenitor was a single star or a binary system, nor have we been able to detect the stellar remnant, a neutron star that should be produced in the core collapse process.

Keywords supernovae: general supernovae: 1987A neutrinos binaries: general stars: neutron

null