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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday August 15 2017, @07:54AM   Printer-friendly
from the a-star-is-torn dept.

EurekAlert! notes:Get them while they're young: Astronomers catch exploding supernova early:

For the first time, astronomers have observed a cosmic event in great detail that they only had glimpses of before: a supernova and its explosive ejecta slamming into a nearby companion star. The discovery was made possible by a specialized survey taking advantage of recent advances in linking telescopes across the globe into a robotic network.

David Sand, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona, discovered the supernova on March 10, 2017, in the galaxy NGC 5643. At 55 million light-years, it was one of the closest supernovae discovered in recent years. Designated SN 2017cbv, it was found by the DLT40 survey, which stands for "Distance Less Than 40 Megaparsecs" or 120 million light-years. The survey uses the PROMPT telescope in Chile, which monitors roughly 500 galaxies nightly.

"This was one of the earliest catches ever -- within a day, perhaps even hours, of its explosion," said Sand, who created the DLT40 survey together with Stefano Valenti, an assistant professor at the University of California, Davis. Both were previously postdoctoral researchers at Las Cumbres Observatory, or LCO.

[...] This study infers that the white dwarf was stealing matter from a much larger companion star, approximately 20 times the radius of the sun. This caused the white dwarf to explode, and the collision of the supernova with the companion star shocked the supernova material, heating it to a blue glow that was heavy in ultraviolet light. Such a shock could not have been produced if the companion were another white dwarf star, the study's authors say.

"We've been looking for this effect -- a supernova crashing into its companion star -- since it was predicted in 2010," said Griffin Hosseinzadeh, a doctoral student at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who led the study, which is soon to be published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. "Hints have been seen before, but this time the evidence is overwhelming. The data are beautiful!

[...] On average, only one supernova goes off over the course of a century in a galaxy like our Milky Way, according to Sand. Add to that their fleeting nature, and it becomes clear why a targeted observational campaign such as the DLT40 survey and an automated network of observatories such as the LCO are critical to their discovery and study. Funded by the National Science Foundation, The DLT40 survey started in October 2016 and is scheduled to continue over the next three years.


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  • (Score: 2, Troll) by aristarchus on Tuesday August 15 2017, @08:00AM (4 children)

    by aristarchus (2645) on Tuesday August 15 2017, @08:00AM (#554160) Journal

    Supernovae last weeks, this one discovered in March of this year, news in May, and we get it in August, to damp down the anti-fascist fervor of the Soylentils? As an astronomer, I am disappointed.

    • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 15 2017, @10:11AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 15 2017, @10:11AM (#554190)

      Note: without your underrated trollish comment, this FA would likely go uncommented.
      Thusly, I decided to monologue orthogonally to you to give an extra dimension to the story and increase the traffic to this exciting old news.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by Rivenaleem on Tuesday August 15 2017, @01:22PM (1 child)

      by Rivenaleem (3400) on Tuesday August 15 2017, @01:22PM (#554249)

      Not only that, but if it was only discovered in March, due to the great distances involved it probably happened months ago, I'd say early November when the election results came out. It's neighbours (glowing blue), when asked for comment, claimed it was probably extremely upset at the result and decided it didn't want to be in this universe anymore.

      • (Score: 2) by aristarchus on Tuesday August 15 2017, @08:58PM

        by aristarchus (2645) on Tuesday August 15 2017, @08:58PM (#554431) Journal

        due to the great distances involved it probably happened months ago, I'd say early November when the election results came out.

        At 55 million light-years,

        So that would be early November, but 55 million years ago. The early detection is the one part of the story that is news.

        within a day, perhaps even hours, of its explosion,"

        But obviously not the same day.

    • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday August 15 2017, @05:19PM

      by bob_super (1357) on Tuesday August 15 2017, @05:19PM (#554336)

      White thing blows up and slams with excessive force into nearby similar body, causing lots of blue and major excitation. Universe does not denounce the destructive act.
      I'd say that's a good week to run it.

  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday August 15 2017, @05:13PM (1 child)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday August 15 2017, @05:13PM (#554333) Journal

    It's great they have observed a new supernova so early after it explodes.

    It probably won't be the last time we see one during the time humans have the technology to do so. (which may not be that much longer)

    It's too bad that observations of supernovae seem to accumulate so slowly.

    On average, only one supernova goes off over the course of a century in a galaxy like our Milky Way, according to Sand. Add to that their fleeting nature, and it becomes clear why a targeted observational campaign such as the DLT40 survey and an automated network of observatories such as the LCO are critical to their discovery and study. Funded by the National Science Foundation, The DLT40 survey started in October 2016 and is scheduled to continue over the next three years.

    If they only happen once a century, and we just found one, maybe the NSF could save money by not looking for another century?

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 15 2017, @09:03PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 15 2017, @09:03PM (#554434)

      in a galaxy like our Milky Way,

      Local supernovae may be only about every hundred years (See Tycho's stella nova [wikipedia.org], and Kepler's), but do you have any idea how many galaxies are out there, and how many of them are not not like the Milky Way?

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