New Supernova Seen In Nearby Galaxy M82 125
The Bad Astronomer writes "A new and potentially bright supernova was just discovered in the nearby galaxy M82. This is a Type Ia supernova, the catastrophic explosion of a white dwarf. It appears to be on the rise, and may have been caught as much as two weeks before peak brightness. It's currently already brighter than magnitude 12, and may get to mag 8, easy to see in small telescopes. The galaxy is less than 12 million light years away, so this may become one of the best-studied supernovae in recent times. Type Ia supernovae are used to measure dark energy, so seeing one nearby is a huge boon to astronomy."
Re:I hope no one got hurt (Score:4, Funny)
Just sayin'.....
It was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
And yes, many Bothans died to bring us this information.
It was a Trap!
Re:It was on the rise... (Score:2, Funny)
Thank you, Dr. Streetmentioner.
Re:It was on the rise... (Score:0, Funny)
So what you're saying is that you like flogging a dead horse with the same old science facts that most of the people here were well informed of by the time they reached the 8th grade. Got it.
Why don't you tell us again that a black hole has such an enormous gravitational field that not even light can escape it or that man and dinosaur didn't walk the earth at the same time? I just love hearing these trite facts over and over and over again.
Re:It was on the rise... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:M81 and M82 (Score:4, Funny)
The galaxies M81 and M82 are only about 300K ly from each other. A decent telescope can image them both at the same time.
Not if you were standing between them.