Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Ward
Humm...ran 30 minutes on it just now. Not sure I want to do colour
(a rather small, unremarkable galaxy )
So which one is the SN?
P.S.
Sorry, so far I only have NB flats on the AstroDon's so the calibration/background is a little ropey
|
Hi Peter,
Thanks for having a go. Looks a pretty pic to me.
Small, well yes at 150 million light years away when compared to the multitude of massive Messier Objects we are used to. Unremarkable, not really. It now sports it's 3rd Supernova in less than 20 years, that transient object may last a month or so until it fades away. So at the moment it's a target of opportunity for those who may want to try and give it a go.
You pose an interesting question "so which one is the SN?"
In taking images of galaxies there maybe a chance (albeit slight) that you could find a bright transient object in your image, possibly being a Supernova, even a known/unknown Minor Planet or Variable star. But how would you know and why bother checking anyways? Seems to me going to go to all those hours of collecting data to get that fine galaxy image, then it's not that much more effort involved to have a quick look for anything not supposed to be there. And yes if it's in a large, close by galaxy, then a discovery could make the the effort even more rewarding and satisfying. May even be of some real science value.
I have attached an image from the Digitised Sky Survey, so will let you make your own discovery in your image.
You may even want to post it to David Bishop's Bright Supernova Page, particularly if you do try for colour, always welcomed.
http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/snimages/
Also below are several useful links worth having - The Digitised Sky Survey Images, a link to The Minor Planet Checker and to the General Catalogue Of Variable Stars (GCVS).
http://archive.stsci.edu/cgi-bin/dss_form
https://minorplanetcenter.net/cgi-bin/checkmp.cgi
http://www.sai.msu.su/gcvs/cgi-bin/search.htm