Recent observations with the [*Chandra X-ray Observatory*]{} have resolved the X-ray emission into an approximately circular shell (Burrows et al. 2000). This second phase of increasing emission is attributed to the interaction of shocks driven by the ejecta with circumstellar material and is distinct from the interaction with a radially decreasing stellar wind which characterises radio supernovae. It therefore signifies the birth of the [*remnant*]{} of SN 1987A – the first observation of the birth of a supernova remnant. We use the name SNR 1987A for the remnant.

By late-1992, SNR 1987A was sufficiently strong to image at 9 GHz using the ATCA (Staveley-Smith et al. 1993a). This image, which exploited super-resolution to resolve the source, showed that the remnant was roughly circular with a diameter of about 08, fitting inside the optical equatorial ring (Reynolds et al. 1995), and with bright lobes to the east and west, suggesting an annular structure with an axis similar to that of the optical emission. The eastern lobe was about 20% brighter than the western lobe. To follow the evolution of this structure, the remnant has been imaged at roughly yearly intervals since 1992.

Despite the increasing brightness, the size of SNR 1987A 