Bright supernova explodes in nearby galaxy M82 Options

[Mongo]

Bright supernova explodes in nearby galaxy M82

One of the closest stellar explosions for years has been spotted in a relatively nearby galaxy that is a favourite target for amateur astronomers. The supernova appeared in the galaxy Messier 82, or M82 for short, which lies about 11.4 million light-years away, right on our doorstep in cosmic terms.

This is the closest known supernova since 1987A in the LMG. Emily has a blog post about it here.

[Explorer1]

Phil Plait says it might brighten to 8th magnitude, (within view of binoculars!).

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2..._supernova.html

Time to have to have a look one of these moonless nights.

[Holder of the Tw...]

These type 1a explosions don't produce as many neutrinos as type 2 (SN 1987a, for instance) so we're probably not going to get much in the way of detection via that route.

As for gravity waves... The Advanced LIGO detectors began a six week engineering run back on the 15th, just a week ago, but it's not clear to me whether they're actually up to making good observations at the moment. Also, no one has reported yet whether this was an isolated white dwarf or the death spiral of a pair. The latter would be much more of a gravitational event.

Corrections: The death spiral itself could not be picked up by LIGO (too low in frequency), but an asymetrical Ia explosion might possibly be picked up, although I can't find any estimates about just how far out white dwarf supernovas might be detected. I also read the Planetary Society blog. No detection of neutrinos possible.

[djellison]

I had a go at it with Telescope 21 on the iTelescope network. Just from preview JPG's - ( 600s L, 300s for R, G and B )

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[Mongo]

Closest, brightest supernova in decades is also a little weird

When University of California, Berkeley, astronomer Alex Filippenko's research team looked for the supernova in data collected by the Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT) at Lick Observatory near San Jose, Calif., they discovered that the robotic telescope had actually taken a photo of it 37 hours after it appeared, unnoticed, on Jan. 14.

Combining this observation with another chance observation by a Japanese amateur astronomer, Filippenko's team was able to calculate that SN 2014J had unusual characteristics – it brightened faster than expected for a Type Ia supernova and, even more intriguing, it exhibited the same unexpected, rapid brightening as another supernova that KAIT discovered and imaged last year – SN 2013dy.

"Now, two of the three most recent and best-observed Type Ia supernovae are weird, giving us new clues to how stars explode," said Filippenko, referring to a third, though apparently 'normal,' Type Ia supernova, SN 2011fe, discovered three years ago. "This may be teaching us something general about Type Ia supernovae that theorists need to understand. Maybe what we think of as 'normal' behavior for these supernovae is actually unusual, and this weird behavior is the new normal."