New Supernova found

[Gibsons]

A type 1a, in the Cigar Galaxy.

The supernova was bright enough to be discovered with a modest telescope in an unlikely spot: cloudy north London. On 21 January, around 7 pm, Steve Fossey, an astronomer at University College London, was taking students through a routine lesson with a 35-centimetre telescope at the University of London Observatory. Images of M82, also known as the Cigar Galaxy, appeared on their screens. Fossey noticed something unusual: a star sitting on the edge of the galaxy disc. It did not match Fossey's memory of the galaxy, nor images they looked up on the Internet. "It kind of looked odd," he says.

http://www.nature.com/news/supernova-erupts-in-nearby-galaxy-1.14579

 

[Gibsons]

Pic isn't much to look at, but it's easy to spot.

 

[darkswordsman17]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h48ozMZP70Y

 

[DesiPower]

Discovered would be a better word, it happened 11 millions years ago

 

[gophertron]

So one thing I find curious - in an article I read about this it says astronmers will watch it over the next few weeks as it grows brighter and then dimmer. I'm confused on timescales at this distance - if I happened to be sitting right next to it 11 million years ago when it occurred, would it grow brighter and dimmer on the same time scale? Or does that fact that galaxies are spreading apart and the universe is expanding change the timescale on which we see this happening from the Earth's POV?

 

[DesiPower]

So one thing I find curious - in an article I read about this it says astronmers will watch it over the next few weeks as it grows brighter and then dimmer. I'm confused on timescales at this distance - if I happened to be sitting right next to it 11 million years ago when it occurred, would it grow brighter and dimmer on the same time scale? Or does that fact that galaxies are spreading apart and the universe is expanding change the timescale on which we see this happening from the Earth's POV?

take your pick, no one know that for sure. On top of that there is the time space continuum, who know what that does to the whole theory.

 

[zinfamous]

A type 1a, in the Cigar Galaxy.

http://www.nature.com/news/supernova-erupts-in-nearby-galaxy-1.14579

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpH_e0of400

 

[Gibsons]

So one thing I find curious - in an article I read about this it says astronmers will watch it over the next few weeks as it grows brighter and then dimmer. I'm confused on timescales at this distance - if I happened to be sitting right next to it 11 million years ago when it occurred, would it grow brighter and dimmer on the same time scale? Or does that fact that galaxies are spreading apart and the universe is expanding change the timescale on which we see this happening from the Earth's POV?

Well, apart from being vaporized into some exotic plasma...

I think the timescales would be about the same. It's a "nearby galaxy," so it might not even be moving away from us at ludicrous speed. Maybe Silverpig will be so kind as to inform us.

 

[CZroe]

Well, apart from being vaporized into some exotic plasma...

I think the timescales would be about the same. It's a "nearby galaxy," so it might not even be moving away from us at ludicrous speed. Maybe Silverpig will be so kind as to inform us.

Honestly, I'd be more entertained seeing Silver Prime take a crack at it.

 

[dawp]

my understanding of type 1a supernova is the are fairly consistent in their brightness and duration. they are used to judge distances in the universe because of that consistency.


they are the result of a binary system where a white dwarf siphons off material from its companion until it get around 1 and 1/2 the mass of our sun then it goes cabluie

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_Ia_supernova

 

[purbeast0]

Discovered would be a better word, it happened 11 millions light years ago

fixed.

it is just extremely hard to wrap my head around the fact that something is so far away that happened 11.4 million light years ago is just now becoming visible. i just can't fathom that distance.

 

[WelshBloke]

Honestly, I'd be more entertained seeing Silver Prime take a crack at it.

Nemesis 1 would do a better job.

 

[SunnyD]

fixed.

it is just extremely hard to wrap my head around the fact that something is so far away that happened 11.4 million light years ago is just now becoming visible. i just can't fathom that distance.

Definition of a "light year": The distance light travels in ONE YEAR assuming the speed of light in a vacuum.



If it's 11.4 million light years away, it took 11.4 million actual years for that light to reach us, not counting universal movement. Are you intentionally trying to confuse yourself between distance and time measurements or something?

 

[purbeast0]

Definition of a "light year": The distance light travels in ONE YEAR assuming the speed of light in a vacuum.



If it's 11.4 million light years away, it took 11.4 million actual years for that light to reach us, not counting universal movement. Are you intentionally trying to confuse yourself between distance and time measurements or something?

wut?

i'm simply saying that the actual distance of something that takes 11.4 million light years away to be visible, after doing the math of how far something would have to be to take 11.4 million light years to get here, is mind boggling to me because of just how tiny we are in comparison to the universe.

the fact that something is 9.4605284 * 10^15 meters * 11.4 million miles away is fucking crazh.

 

[Gibsons]

my understanding of type 1a supernova is the are fairly consistent in their brightness and duration. they are used to judge distances in the universe because of that consistency.


they are the result of a binary system where a white dwarf siphons off material from its companion until it get around 1 and 1/2 the mass of our sun then it goes cabluie

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_Ia_supernova

I don't think that's quite settled for sure yet.
http://www.nature.com/news/kepler-clue-to-supernova-puzzle-1.14513

 

[manimal]

Nemesis 1 would do a better job.

zing!!!!


lol

 

[SunnyD]

wut?

i'm simply saying that the actual distance of something that takes 11.4 million light years away to be visible, after doing the math of how far something would have to be to take 11.4 million light years to get here, is mind boggling to me because of just how tiny we are in comparison to the universe.

the fact that something is 9.4605284 * 10^15 meters * 11.4 million miles away is fucking crazh.

Sorry, I missed a context clue somewhere. I'm tired.

For what it's worth... 11.4 million light years is "in our back yard", relatively speaking.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

wut?

i'm simply saying that the actual distance of something that takes 11.4 million light years away to be visible, after doing the math of how far something would have to be to take 11.4 million light years to get here, is mind boggling to me because of just how tiny we are in comparison to the universe.

the fact that something is 9.4605284 * 10^15 meters * 11.4 million miles away is fucking crazh.

What SunnyD is saying is:

Light years=distance measurement, not time. You're confusing the two. In the bolded above, it would take 11.4 million years to get here, not 11.4 million light years (which is a measure of distance, not time).

 

[Fritzo]

So one thing I find curious - in an article I read about this it says astronmers will watch it over the next few weeks as it grows brighter and then dimmer. I'm confused on timescales at this distance - if I happened to be sitting right next to it 11 million years ago when it occurred, would it grow brighter and dimmer on the same time scale? Or does that fact that galaxies are spreading apart and the universe is expanding change the timescale on which we see this happening from the Earth's POV?

We will be seeing it on Earth exactly as it happened 11 million years ago- the whole brighter and then dimming phase. Depending on the size of the nova and how well we can see it, we might even see a nebula start to form (it's pretty far out though, so not sure we'd be able to get that kind of resolution).

 

[KillerBee]

wut?

i'm simply saying that the actual distance of something that takes 11.4 million light years away to be visible, after doing the math of how far something would have to be to take 11.4 million light years to get here, is mind boggling to me because of just how tiny we are in comparison to the universe.

the fact that something is 9.4605284 * 10^15 meters * 11.4 million miles away is fucking crazh.

fixed
the fact that something is 11.4 million * 9.4605284 * 10^15 meters away is fucking crazh.

 

[Train]

I know space is big, but I would have thought "in our backyard" at least meant within our galaxy.

 

[Gibsons]

We will be seeing it on Earth exactly as it happened 11 million years ago- the whole brighter and then dimming phase. Depending on the size of the nova and how well we can see it, we might even see a nebula start to form (it's pretty far out though, so not sure we'd be able to get that kind of resolution).

The nature article says the galaxy is very dusty, so the views might not be so good.

 

[Train]

The nature article says the galaxy is very dusty, so the views might not be so good.

Zoom, enhance, zoom enhance.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

We have some JPL scientist or something that posts here. Supernova or something like that is his handle.

 

[Fritzo]

The nature article says the galaxy is very dusty, so the views might not be so good.

That's a shame. We have a lot of candidates for supernovas closer to home though. IK Pegasi is expected to go nova anytime, and is only 150 light years from Earth, meaning it would be VERY visible to the naked eye. I believe the last supernova that we could see unaided was SN 1987A back in (obviously) 1987. We're still watching it and seeing it evolve.