[vsnet-alert 13397] Supernova from observatory

[P. Clay Sherrod]

Thought that you might enjoy seeing this.
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Captured with the 0.5 meter ASO Astrograph at Petit Jean Mountain's Arkansas Sky
Observatories, these images show the sudden outburst of a "supernova", a massive explosion
of a star many times the size of our own sun in the far distant galaxy Messier 51 in the
northern sky constellation of Canes Venatici, very near the "Big Dipper" in our nighttime
skies.

This massive galaxy is very similar to our own in terms of age and size and the
interesting aspect of this exploding star is that it occurred very near the position of
where our Earth would have been had this been our own galaxy....in other words, planet
Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy is very close to the same position as this explosion in
Messier 51, also known as "The Whirlpool Galaxy."

The Whirlpool Galaxy is a whopping 20 million light years away, so far that the star
actually exploded 20 million years ago, long before mankind ever walked on our
planet...the light is just now arriving for us to see it after its long journey at 186,000
miles per second.

A star that explodes is known as a "nova", or new star; a simple "nova" at this distance
would not even be visible.

This on the other hand is a "Supernova", a blast so enormous that we can see it across the
vast distances of space from thousands of trillions of miles distant.  The energy from
this explosion is so great that, had it occurred here in the Milky Way Galaxy, it would
have instantly vaporized Earth and any other bodies within its realm.  Such a massive
explosion results when a sun - very much like our own sun only larger - suddenly crashes
in on itself, resulting is such pressures that the implosion results in a sudden explosion
the likes of which we can only imagine.

The image on the left was taken on May 30; that on the right on June 4, only days later
after the star's explosion was found.  Part of the studies at ASO involve the search and
documentation of such extra-galactic supernovae, recording images of hundreds of galaxies
over time and comparing them to a library file of galaxies compiled at ASO for such
comparisons.

Both images were taken by the high resolution SBIG CCD patrol camera used for the Arkansas 
Sky
Observatories measurements of near earth asteroids and comets.



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