Thanks bkopto.
|
Posted on 08/27/2011 10:30:34 AM PDT by bkopto
Attention all astronomers! There is a new Type Ia supernova that has been seen in the nearby spiral galaxy M101, and it’s very young — currently only about a day old! This is very exciting news; getting as much data on this event as possible is critical.
Most likely professional astronomers are already aware of the supernova, since observations have already been taken by Swift (no X-rays have yet been seen, but it’s early yet) and Hubble observations have been scheduled. Still, I would urge amateur astronomers to take careful observations of the galaxy.
[As an aside, I'll note that this supernova won't get bright enough to see naked eye and poses no threat at all to us here on Earth. It may be visible in decent-sized telescopes, though, and as you'll see this may be a very important event in the annals of astronomy.]
So why is this a big deal?
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.discovermagazine.com ...
Another excuse for the bad economy!
From the articleHow are we seeing it already?
it’s very young — currently only about a day old
M101 is about 27 million light years from us (more or less). Either this supernova happened 27 million years ago, or we won't see it for a very long time.
Still, it is exciting. Super Novas are fairly rare events. This one is so distant, you can't see it without a good telescope, though, and a dark sky helps (being away from the city lights).
La supernova in M101!
I’m very excited about this one!
M101 is a challenge to see on its own because it is oriented face-on to us, but to see a supernova inside that galaxy with amateur equipment will be a once in a lifetime thrill.
- How are we seeing it already?
You are obviously not up to date on the current methods of determining cosmic occurences.
The photons emitted from the dying star, streak out into the universe at light speed. After about 100 meters of so they get tired and attach themselves to tachyon particles that are zooming by at about 50 jillion times the speed.
When the tachyons reach earth in but a matter of hours, the photons let go and yell, “We’re going to Disnyland !!”
This is why most people who are really stud astronomers hang around Disneyland for the “first view” photo ops.
Disclaimer : See forum name.
Uh.
That would be about 24,000 years and one day.
Thanks bkopto. Another “extra extra” topic for APoD.
If M101 is my sky as soon as the storms clear out I’ll take my equipment to a dark sky area, try to capture some images
Actually, it’s Bush’s fault. Got that staight from the jackass’s (er horse’s) mouth.
Silly. Of course it’s only Earth’s view of it that’s only about a day old.
I wonder how big the “feeder” star has to be in order to furnish enough matter to the white dwarf to let it go off in sudden fusion like an H-bomb. If a white dwarf sidled up to our Sun, could something like that happen, or would the Sun get completely eaten up leaving a still very hungry white dwarf?
I beg to differ, depending on how far away it is, it is a good deal older than one day.
If it is 27 Million light years away, that is how long it took the light from the explosion to get here.
Ergo, this supernova is not only 1 day old. Our observations of the first flash of light are 1 day old, but the explosion is long over....
...FYI, this is on the Astronomy pic of the day thread. I blame everything on this...(-;)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
