Recent Hubble Space Telescope Observations of SN 1987A: Broad Emission Lines

Observations with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), conducted since 1990, have allowed us to create a "movie" of the evolution of the core-collapse supernova SN 1987A from 3-25 years after the explosion. Critical to understanding the late time evolution of SN 1987A was the successful HST Servicing Mission 4 in May 2009. The repair of the STIS instrument and the installation of the WFC3 imager and COS spectrograph have provided crucial data points for understanding the temporal variability in the physical structure and energy sources for SN 1987A, as well as measurements of the chemical abundances of the ejecta. In this proceeding, I will focus on two topics that have made use of the expanded capability of HST and highlight the importance of access to a UV/optical space observatory for the studies of local supernovae: 1) 2) The decreasing maximum velocity of neutral hydrogen crossing the reverse shock front and the role of soft X-ray/EUV heating in the outer supernova debris and 2) The detection of metals (N4+ and C3+ ions) crossing the reverse shock front and CNO processing in the progenitor star.