The predecessor of SN 1987A had been a blue supergiant, looking like a sapphire in space. It had possessed roughly twenty times the mass of the Sun, and if it underwent a supernova explosion, it should have formed a neutron star. Yet after exploding as a supernova, it had neither become a neutron star nor formed a nebula. Instead, it had "vanished."
Scientific journals suggested that perhaps there had been too much gaseous matter around it, obstructing human observation. Or perhaps it had formed a neutron star, which then absorbed other matter and became an even smaller quark star. Or perhaps the neutron star had been too greedy, absorbing too much matter and becoming a black hole, leaving no trace to be seen.
Pomona had not expected the European Space Agency to reply, but they actually had. It was not that they were unwilling to provide financial support. Rather, after the Challenger launch disaster in January of last year, all American space shuttles had been grounded. Until the cause of the malfunction was found and eliminated, all flight plans would be frozen indefinitely. The installation and maintenance of the Hubble Space Telescope had to be carried out by astronauts; even if the telescope itself was launched, there would be no way to calibrate it.
The moment they saw the word "indefinitely," Pomona and Sinistra's hearts sank halfway. The Apollo program had seen no movement for more than a decade. At first, television had been full of related news reports. They had spent so much money going to the Moon—why had no one thought to install a telescope there?
Sinistra planned to visit Australia during the summer holidays. It had the finest array telescopes in the world. Although she would not be able to witness what had happened to SN 1987A