To: neverdem
... star in a galaxy about 440 million light-years away...
Help this layman understand why the galaxy is not visible. Looks like the supernova event is larger than its host galaxy. I presume that would not be so.
4 posted on
08/31/2006 12:55:17 AM PDT by
carumba
(The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made. Groucho)
To: carumba
How do you mean 'larger?'
Normally a photon from the galaxy arrives here so rarely that it isn't detected. The event released enough of a flood of photons that many were detected. That the photons were of particularly high energy allows us to determine what is going on.
In the usual meaning of 'larger,' the galaxy is on the order of a hundred LY across and the star, at its normal density, a small fraction of a LY.
8 posted on
08/31/2006 3:35:43 AM PDT by
dhuffman@awod.com
(The conspiracy of ignorance masquerades as common sense.)
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