New Supernova Spotted in Whirlpool Galaxy

Hubble Space Telescope image shows off the Whirlpool galaxy as it looked before this week's supernova eruption. credit: STScI/AURA

. credit: Stéphane Lamotte Bailey

Another awesome find of one of the most powerful forces in the universe, by 2 amature astronomers. With the advances in technology it is becoming easier for the average enthusiast to capture rare cosmic events and cellestial bodies that may have otherwise took the scientific community years to discover.

A cosmic celebrity gets some superstar treatment! This week while patrolling the night sky with their telescopes two French backyard astronomers independently managed to snag digital images of a supernova explosion caught in the act – with all the action occurring within the Whirlpool galaxy 31 million light years away. On May 31st one amateur noticed a new star embedded within one of the spiral arms of the distant galaxy where there wasn’t any before. By the next evening other amateur stargazers and robotic supernova patrol telescopes clued in as well and the alarm was sounded to the worldwide observing community.

Link

Very cool.

Seems your .gif image isn't working, try direct from the source...

reply to post by Chadwickus


Thanks man. I appreciate that. The animation gives the perspective a bit more clarity.

Very interesting indeed.

The wonders of the universe are infinate.

reply to post by highfreq


This is all the way awesome! thanks for posting this The SN looks huge. This is very exciting. As a star watcher I love stuff like this. Cheers! S&F

That must be a ridiculous feeling, being able to proclaim that you found something 'new' up there.

What's different?

Dang, I was observing it just days before it happened. Thats twice now that I narrowly missed discovering one in the whirlpool.