Succeeded in photographing the (core-collapse) #supernova (2023ixf) in M101 galaxy; discovered 2 days ago. Closest supernova observed in a decade (dist. 21 million lightyears). Only 1 hour of total observation time (clouds) with 150mm Newtonian telescope. #astrophotography#Astrodon
A new Type II core-collapse Supernova SN 2023ixf was detected yesterday in the Pinwheel Galaxy (aka Messier 101, M101 and NGC 5457).
At 21 million light-years distance and only 14.9 mag, it is too far and too faint to stand out in the night sky, unlike some other supernovae observed by humans over the past few thousand years.
However, it is of great interest to the astrophysics community.
Details at https://www.wis-tns.org/object/2023ixf #M101#SN2023ixf#science#Supernova
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M101, the Pinwheel galaxy, is located in the night sky near the handle of the Big Dipper (Ursa Major).
Distance: 21 million light-years
Magnitude: 7.9
Discoverer: Pierre Méchain
Discovery year: 1781
Diameter: 170,000 light-years, about 2x the size of the Milky Way.
A Type II supernova results from the rapid collapse and violent explosion of a massive (young) star, 8 to 50 times the mass of the Sun (M☉), when its core can no longer fuse heavier elements.
Type II supernovae are distinguished from other types of supernovae by the presence of hydrogen in their spectra.
The graphic below describes the process that leads to the supernova explosion in such stars.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_II_supernova #M101#SN2023ixf#Supernova
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Spectrum data for Supernova SN 2023ixf in visible light wavelengths, captured yesterday, is shown below.
The spectrum is rich in blue wavelengths; it has prominent peaks at wavelengths (shown as vertical lines) associated with emissions from Hydrogen.
The peaks around 4750 A° (475 nm) are associated with He, C and N.
"The spectrum is typical of Type II SNe in the flash ionization phase."
The entire process of core collapse and explosion of a Type II Supernova takes place in a matter of seconds!
Velocity during collapse - up to 0.23c.
Inner core temp. - 100 billion K.
Energy released during formation of neutrons and neutrinos - 10^46 Joules (80 billion times the energy from our sun in 1 year).
% of neutrinos absorbed within SN - 5% (so dense is the material in the collapsing core and the shock wave).
Astronomers today examined archival data collected by the Spitzer space telescope in the region around Supernova SN 2023ixf and produced this plot of photometry of the progenitor candidate for SN 2023ixf. A preliminary estimate of the mass of the progenitor = 15 solar masses, based on photometric comparison with SN 2017eaw.
Supernova SN 2023ixf will continue to brighten over the next few days (it has already brightened to mag 12, was 14.9 at discovery) and then fade over the following months.
Observations of supernova SN 2023ixf or its progenitor by various observatories during the hours before discovery narrows down the time when the supernova explosion took place to between 2023-05-18 10:17:15 UTC and 2023-05-19 06:08:00, 31.2 to 11.3 hours before discovery. https://www.wis-tns.org/astronotes/astronote/2023-124 #M101#SN2023ixf#Supernova
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Observations of supernova SN 2023ixf made by the Univ. of Hertfordshire Observatory show luminosity increasing over a 4 hour period yesterday. The supernova is now brighter than magnitude 12.
The Julian date (JD) is the count of days and fractions since noon Universal Time on January 1, 4713 BC.
JD 2460085.0 is 2023 May 20 12:00:00.
The base of the x axis below is 2023 May 20 21:00:00 UTC.
V = Visible Band, B = Blue, R = Red
A bright supernova just popped off in nearby galaxy M101! Not naked-eye bright, but should be visible through a decent amateur telescope.
M101 is about 21 million light years away, so this signal has been on its way to Earth for a looong time. https://www.wis-tns.org/object/2023ixf/discovery-cert#Supernova#M101#Astrodon
Gravitational lens gives us a third estimate of the Universe’s expansion
Lensed images of a supernova appear at different times.
Hubble Constant, a measure of how quickly the Universe is expanding. We've measured it using information in the cosmic microwave background and gotten one value. We've measured it using the apparent distance to objects in the present-day Universe and gotten a value that differs by about 10%
Now, researchers have managed to make a third measurement https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/05/gravitational-lens-gives-us-a-third-estimate-of-the-universes-expansion/#GravitationalLens#universe#expansion#supernova
This morning I pulled down a couple of years of data (magnitudes) of that pesky red supergiant, Betelgeuse from the AAVSO website.
Ran it through a quick and dirty pipeline to plot these values over time, and look at it go!
Does anyone in the #Astrodon community know why it is getting brighter and brighter, since the great dimming of 2019-20? Is this part of the longer cycle of variability?