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A supernova is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion. The original object, called the progenitor, either collapses to a neutron star or black hole, or is completely destroyed to form a diffuse nebula. The peak optical luminosity of a supernova can be comparable to that of an entire galaxy before fading over several weeks or months.
SN 1987A was a type II supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. It occurred approximately 51.4 kiloparsecs from Earth and was the closest observed supernova since Kepler's Supernova. 1987A's light reached Earth on February 23, 1987, and as the earliest supernova discovered that year, was labeled "1987A". Its brightness peaked in May, with an apparent magnitude of about 3.
Betelgeuse is a red supergiant star of spectral type M1-2 and one of the largest visible to the naked eye. It is usually the tenth-brightest star in the night sky and, after Rigel, the second-brightest in the constellation of Orion. It is a distinctly reddish, semiregular variable star whose apparent magnitude, varying between +0.0 and +1.6, has the widest range displayed by any first-magnitude star. At near-infrared wavelengths, Betelgeuse is the brightest star in the night sky. Its Bayer designation is α Orionis, Latinised to Alpha Orionis and abbreviated Alpha Ori or α Ori.
A blue supergiant (BSG) is a hot, luminous star, often referred to as an OB supergiant. They have luminosity class I and spectral class B9 or earlier.
Messier 81 (also known as NGC 3031 or Bode's Galaxy) is a grand design spiral galaxy about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Ursa Major. It has a D25 isophotal diameter of 29.44 kiloparsecs (96,000 light-years). Because of its relative proximity to the Milky Way galaxy, large size, and active galactic nucleus (which harbors a 70 million M☉ supermassive black hole), Messier 81 has been studied extensively by professional astronomers. The galaxy's large size and relatively high brightness also makes it a popular target for amateur astronomers. In late February 2022, astronomers reported that M81 may be the source of FRB 20200120E, a repeating fast radio burst.
SN 1885A was a supernova in the Andromeda Galaxy, the only one seen in that galaxy so far by astronomers. It was the first supernova ever seen outside the Milky Way, though it was not appreciated at the time how far away it was. It is also known as "Supernova 1885".
Messier 74 is a large spiral galaxy in the equatorial constellation Pisces. It is about 32 million light-years away from Earth. The galaxy contains two clearly defined spiral arms and is therefore used as an archetypal example of a grand design spiral galaxy. The galaxy's low surface brightness makes it the most difficult Messier object for amateur astronomers to observe. Its relatively large angular size and the galaxy's face-on orientation make it an ideal object for professional astronomers who want to study spiral arm structure and spiral density waves. It is estimated that M74 hosts about 100 billion stars.
International Ultraviolet Explorer, was the first space observatory primarily designed to take ultraviolet (UV) electromagnetic spectrum. The satellite was a collaborative project between NASA, the United Kingdom's Science and Engineering Research Council and the European Space Agency (ESA), formerly European Space Research Organisation (ESRO). The mission was first proposed in early 1964, by a group of scientists in the United Kingdom, and was launched on 26 January 1978 aboard a NASA Thor-Delta 2914 launch vehicle. The mission lifetime was initially set for 3 years, but in the end it lasted 18 years, with the satellite being shut down in 1996. The switch-off occurred for financial reasons, while the telescope was still functioning at near original efficiency.
A Type Ia supernova is a type of supernova that occurs in binary systems in which one of the stars is a white dwarf. The other star can be anything from a giant star to an even smaller white dwarf.
The known history of supernova observation goes back to 1006 AD. All earlier proposals for supernova observations are speculations with many alternatives.
SN 1993J is a supernova observed in the galaxy M81. It was discovered on 28 March 1993 by F. Garcia in Spain. At the time, it was the second-brightest type II supernova observed in the twentieth century behind SN 1987A, peaking at a visible apparent magnitude of 10.7 on March 30, with a second peak of 10.86 on April 18.
NGC 613 is a barred spiral galaxy located 67 million light years away in the southern constellation of Sculptor. This galaxy was discovered in 1798 by German-English astronomer William Herschel, then re-discovered and catalogued by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop. It was first photographed in 1912, which revealed the spiral form of the nebula. During the twentieth century, radio telescope observations showed that a linear feature in the nucleus was a relatively strong source of radio emission.
SN 2014J was a type-Ia supernova in Messier 82 discovered in mid-January 2014. It was the closest type-Ia supernova discovered for 42 years, and no subsequent supernova has been closer as of 2023. The supernova was discovered by chance during an undergraduate teaching session at the University of London Observatory. It peaked on 31 January 2014, reaching an apparent magnitude of 10.5. SN 2014J was the subject of an intense observing campaign by professional astronomers and was bright enough to be seen by amateur astronomers.
SN Refsdal is the first detected multiply-lensed supernova, visible within the field of the galaxy cluster MACS J1149+2223. It was named after Norwegian astrophysicist Sjur Refsdal, who, in 1964, first proposed using time-delayed images from a lensed supernova to study the expansion of the universe. The observations were made using the Hubble Space Telescope.
ASASSN-15lh is an extremely luminous astronomical transient event discovered by the All Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN), with the appearance of a superluminous supernova event. It was first detected on June 14, 2015, located within a faint galaxy in the southern constellation Indus, and was the most luminous supernova-like object ever observed. At its peak, ASASSN-15lh was 570 billion times brighter than the Sun, and 20 times brighter than the combined light emitted by the Milky Way Galaxy. The emitted energy was exceeded by PS1-10adi.
iPTF14hls is an unusual supernova star that erupted continuously for about 1,000 days beginning in September 2014 before becoming a remnant nebula. It had previously erupted in 1954. None of the theories nor proposed hypotheses fully explain all the aspects of the object.
SN 2018cow was a very powerful astronomical explosion, 10–100 times brighter than a normal supernova, spatially coincident with galaxy CGCG 137-068, approximately 200 million ly (60 million pc) distant in the Hercules constellation. It was discovered on 16 June 2018 by the ATLAS-HKO telescope, and had generated significant interest among astronomers throughout the world. Later, on 10 July 2018, and after AT 2018cow had significantly faded, astronomers, based on follow-up studies with the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT), formally described AT 2018cow as SN 2018cow, a type Ib supernova, showing an "unprecedented spectrum for a supernova of this class"; although others, mostly at first but also more recently, have referred to it as a type Ic-BL supernova. An explanation to help better understand the unique features of AT 2018cow has been presented. AT2018cow is one of the few reported Fast Blue Optical Transients (FBOTs) observed in the Universe. In May 2020, however, a much more powerful FBOT than AT2018cow was reportedly observed.
SN 2020oi was a supernova event in the grand design spiral galaxy known as Messier 100, or NGC 4321. It was discovered January 7, 2020 at an apparent magnitude of 17.28 by F. Forster and associates using the Zwicky Transient Facility. The position places it ~4.67″ north of the galactic nucleus. The supernova was not detected on an observation made three days before the discovery, and thus it must have begun during that brief period. The light curve peaked around January 13–18, depending on the wavelength, then declined rapidly over a period of 25 days before flattening into a more gradual decline. Observations of the spectrum made with the SOAR telescope showed this to be a type Ic supernova, with the progenitor being a massive star that had its outer envelope stripped. The initial velocity of the expanding photosphere was ~15,000 km/s.
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Jacobson-Galán, W. V.; Dessart, L.; Jones, D. O.; Margutti, R.; Coppejans, D. L.; Dimitriadis, G.; Foley, R. J.; Kilpatrick, C. D.; Matthews, D. J.; Rest, S.; Terreran, G.; Aleo, P. D.; Auchettl, K.; Blanchard, P. K.; Coulter, D. A.; Davis, K. W.; de Boer, T. J. L.; DeMarchi, L.; Drout, M. R.; Earl, N.; Gagliano, A.; Gall, C.; Hjorth, J.; Huber, M. E.; Ibik, A. L.; Milisavljevic, D.; Pan, Y. C.; Rest, A.; Ridden-Harper, R.; Rojas-Bravo, C.; Siebert, M. R.; Smith, K. W.; Taggart, K.; Tinyanont, S.; Wang, Q.; Zenati, Y. (January 6, 2022). "Final Moments. I. Precursor Emission, Envelope Inflation, and Enhanced Mass Loss Preceding the Luminous Type II Supernova 2020tlf". The Astrophysical Journal. 924 (1): 15. arXiv: 2109.12136 . Bibcode:2022ApJ...924...15J. doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac3f3a . S2CID 237940678.
- 1 2 Gough, Evan (February 7, 2022). "Astronomers Watch a Star Die and Then Explode as a Supernova – For the Very First Time". SciTechDaily. Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
- ↑ Anderson, Paul (January 14, 2022). "Dying star's explosive end seen by astronomers". EarthSky. Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
- ↑ Specktor, Brandon (January 11, 2022). "Scientists watched a star explode in real time for the first time ever". Live Science. Archived from the original on 2022-03-14. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
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