Hi all,
As per usual the Backyard Observatory Supernova Search (BOSS) team are happy to provide IIS members with breaking news.
Last night around 9pm, Greg Bock (of the BOSS collaboration) discovered a possible very bright supernova in a far southern galaxy IC4901 in Pavo.
By the time Greg was able to blink the image against his reference image the galaxy had dipped below his horizon. He rang me at 11pm to see if I could get a confirming image. I had just closed the observatory due to complete cloud cover, but thought what the heck, I will move the 'scope to the galaxy (now way over in the southwest at 28 degress altitude)and just start imaging in the hope of a break. Well that's what happened, a small break allowing enough time to get a confirmation image. While Greg and Colin Drescher worked the numbers (position magnitude, offset etc) the sky cleared enough for me to get a better image at only 20 degrees altitude. The object was reported as a possible supernova (PSN) on the CBAT TOCP Page / Bright supernova page, you will see it listed as unknown discoverer at this stage until all the formalities are done
http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/supernova.html
Designated PSN19542141 -5842390 the position (J2000) is 19 54 21.42 / -58 42 39 and its magnitude 14.5r which means it should be visual for 12inch scope owners (Hi Ron Knight!).
Now its only a PSN until the professionals get a spectra and here's where all our hard work is paying off. We have a collaboration with a professional astronomer studying supernova and she is going to try to get a spectra using one of the 6.5m Magellan 'scopes at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile in the next several hours. Once this is done she will send it to the IAU and it should then have an official designation and be released on a Central Bureau Electronic Telegram (CBET). We also have professional collaboration with the SALT telescope astronomers in South Africa and no doubt being bright will be of interest to them.
So there's the report, but what about the guy who discovered it, Greg Bock. As many know Greg and I work alternate Saturdays at Sirius Optics, more for the love of it than an extra income to pay for astro toys. Greg has been a very keen supernova hunter for many years and clearly my successes and indeed much of BOSS would never have happened without the groundwork, hard slog and assistance he laid down over many, many years. We both had great excitement in confirming some of Bob Evans visual discoveries years ago. Greg is also, like Stu Parker an absolute perfectionist superb astro imager.
You may not be aware Greg has one of his images used to pan across the sky in the Carl Sagan Cosmos DVD set as well as having a huge blown up image of Crux on display in the Carnegie Institute (I think its that one) and lots of other images on book covers etc. Now Greg has never given up on finding his own supernova, literally tens of thousands of images - not of nothing, but meticulously building up a library of reference images that last night delivered huge rewards.
I thank and congratulate him on his persistence and help. Goes to show what keen amateurs can achieve.
I will keep you posted on the outcome of the spectra and look forward to someone spotting it visually. Greg will no doubt respond and place an image here later today, well I don't want to steal all his thunder.
PeterM.