Nearest supernova since 1986 blasts boffin off her chair
Boffins across the world have united to study a young supernova just 21 million light years away, to help figure out more about the way that various chemical elements - including those making up our own bodies - are formed. The Palomar Transient Factory caught SN 2011fe in the Pinwheel Galaxy in the vicinity of the Big Dipper …
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Nearest supernova since when?
"just 21 million light years away" ... "the nearest to Earth since 1986"
But Supernova 1987 A, seen in 1987, was 179,000 light-years away, it says here: http://www.solstation.com/x-objects/sn1987a.htm
Did I miss something?
yeah was wondering
Kind of a big oversight considering sn1987a is the most famous supernova in modern times.
And to be fair while it was observed after 1986 it happened a long, long time before then.
"Non-sequitor. Your facts are uncoordinated" *
RTFA. According to the article you linked, Supernova 1987A was a different type as it originated from a supergiant, not a white dwarf. The article said this is the nearest Type 1a supernova (white dwarf with non-giant companion) since 1986. The information in your link supports the statement in this Reg article.
* bonus points for the first person who can identify the titular quote.
@ Ugotta B. Kiddingme
Oi! Trekie
You spelt "non-Sequitur" wrong in Nomad's quote.... ^_~
@ Bill Cumming (or at least Bill Breathing Hard...)
Beer for you and I stand corrected on spelling.
Re: "Non-sequitor(sic). Your facts are uncoordinated" *
> RTFA.
I did, twice actually. Might I respectfully suggest that you do so?
> According to the article you linked, Supernova 1987A was a different type as it originated from a supergiant, not a white dwarf.
Agreed.
> The article said this is the nearest Type 1a supernova (white dwarf with non-giant companion) since 1986.
No it didn't say that. I wondered whether that was meant, so I read it through again to check.
To quote from the article, as of Friday 4:19pm, "The supernova, located in the Pinwheel Galaxy next to the Big Dipper, was the nearest to Earth since 1986".
> The information in your link supports the statement in this Reg article.
The statement that isn't there?
> * bonus points for the first person who can identify the titular quote.
or spell it.
Have a nice day :-)
Boffins
I just love the term "boffins"...I see it used in The Register quite often..too bad it hasn't ever caught on here in the US...
In other news
Supernova's found to be the main cause for falling scientists, and not the occasional gravity check as was once presumed.
More at '8.
We are stardust ...
...we are golden. And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden.
<--- Stoned ;-o
slightly missed opportunity sir
We are stardust
Billion year old carbon
We are golden
Caught in the devils bargain
And we've got to get ourselves
Back to the garden
Joni Mitchell
Sure about those 20.000 km/h?
that would even drop out of earth orbit. Good luck waiting for the speeding debris to reach a nearby star.
Too far away
Also, you can bet your wife they arrived ON TIME, and not A BIT earlier.
Neutrinos are not ÜberGermans!
Good point. Now we know it's there, all we need to do is look for them arriving before the light. To measure this, we just need to go back in time.............ah..........hang on.........
Neutrinos would have arrived with the first light. The analysis will come out of the neutrino instrument logs.
"even our own bodies"...
...sums up the terrible habit humans have of seeing themselves as something APART from the place in which they live.
Re: "even our own bodies"...
There are elements.
- Oh.
They make up everything in the Universe.
- Wow.
Even People.
- Wait, are you sure?
NEBULAE
-- James Ph. Kotsybar
The remnants of supernovae disperse
behemoth art, when stars annihilate.
“Sombrero”, “Crab” and “Horseshead” populate
the gallery of our known universe.
There’s “Ant,” “Tarantula”, and Pelican.”
There’s “Eagle” and “Pillars Of Creation,”
and even one called “Big Running Chicken.”
One slightly resembles our great nation.
These interstellar Rorschach tests reveal
the shapes we recognize within our world,
like “Hamburger,” “Butterfly” and “Pinwheel,”
but they are the guts of stars that are hurled.
Each may have destroyed some sentient race,
but, “Look! It’s like a pretty rose in space!”
"One slightly resembles our great nation"
The only one I could find that looks vaguely like any 'country' at all is NGC7000, the North America nebula. And even that looks like a continent.
Boffin chair blasting
Great fun for the boffin.
Less fun for the Trazabentigarnos whose stay this used to be.
Mine's the one with the collected works of Arthur C. Clarke in the pocket.
I observed this supernova for weeks
I got it with my 8" scope when it was at magnitude 11 (100x fainter than what the eye can see) and climbing, followed it through its maximum at mag 10 (visible in binoculars), and back down to just mag 13 (630 fainter than the naked eye kan see). It was amazing. The kids also had a peak and did their best to wake the neighbours with their shouts of "We've seen a supernova! We've seen a supernova! We've seen a supernova!"
Really neat to see such a bright one. It is odd to think all heavier atoms in your body were forged in the furnace of the core of a star, and that everyone is a supernova remnant.
Just 21 Million light years?
Makes me feel small, very very very small
When are the article writers going to start using correct SI units? I don't want to know these fancy 'light year' distances, I want to know how many double decker bus lengths it is!
Oh, and while I'm at it, what exactly is 'the big dipper'?
But Vauxhall Novas were quite small
Vauxhall Novas were quite small. The saloon was slightly larger with the boot....
Oh *super* Nova. Ahhhh
is it type 1a or la?
"What's interesting about that is that Type Ia supernovae were the ones used in the 90s to calculate the expansion of the universe, and they're also used in the search for dark matter."
I only ask as in another reg article it states that its type 1a that is used to calculate the expansion of the universe.
"First, it's a Type 1a supernova, especially interesting to astronomers because..."
(see http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/08/26/type_1a_ptf_11kly_supernova_discovered/page2.html)
It's a bloody good bang is it what it is.
Paris for obvious reasons although unlike a supernova you can hear her banging away.
You keep spelling scientist wrong, "boffin" is not how you spell scientist.
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