BOSS Supernova 72

[PeterM]

There is always an interesting story behind each BOSS discovery....

In what was looking like a non-productive month for BOSS, I managed to pull a SN discovery unexpectedly out of a hat.

With Stu having a run of bad weather and farm commitments, Greg and I were still coming to terms with a rare run of clear nights only to be taken up with the 2013 Australian Astro Imaging Conference.

Well, as it turns out the hard work from Peter Aldous from New Zealand, would pay off for both of us.... While I missed a whole weekends worth of imaging due to the conference (which was FAB!) Aldous made a great 14th mag discovery in ESO 44-010 in ARA - this will be an easy visual target for suitably equipped IISpacers and perhaps for those equipped to take spectra.

Returning to my normal imaging run on Tuesday I started as usual at the meridian working East, but I started a little further West than normal so this would then pick up and image the beaut SN by Aldous at RA 17hrs. To my huge surprise (ok, maybe a little luck…) I found this mag 17.6 SN in ES0 102-006 a galaxy very close to Peter Aldous discovery a few nights earlier.

I contacted Stu in NZ who took the confirming image and sent the advice to the TOCP

So in a way thanks are due to Peter Aldous and of course congratulations to him on his 2nd discovery.


Regards
Peter

[cventer]

Congrats. Was cool to hear how you guys go about this at the conference.

One question I wanted to ask but did not want to sound like a "malin" in French.

Why do astronomers care about finding supernovas ? What's the science behind it ?

[DavidTrap]

Geez, that's faint Peter! Glad it's arrowed.

Well done team!

DT

[PeterM]

Thank you,
The attached letter is probably the best answer I can give, its written by an astronomer outlining the importance of quick follow up and identifying the progenitor - the star that exploded and that this directly contributes to the science.

In short (and I'm sure others will contribute more detailed science information -SJAstro & Madbadgalaxyman etc)

Type 1a Supernova are a thermonuclear explosion from what is thought to be the mass transfer from a red giant star onto a white dwarf / merging white dwarf stars - this is an area of scientific study at present. They have long been used by astronomers as standard candles in measuring distances to other galaxies, but this maybe under scrutiny. They seed the universe with vast amounts of iron that can be found in your blood - we are star stuff.
Type 2 are giant mass stars that run out of fuel very quickly (literally measured in hundreds of million of years) and implode then explode creating new elements in the stellar furnace. Over time new stars very different to their progenitor stars are born from these furnaces and that's why you are here reading this.
Our talk was basically around the fact that a lot has happened in 2 years since the last AAIC and that some of the discoveries we have made have been followed up by 5 science papers with more to come. These papers have expanded our knowledge of supernova.
You know its important when astronomers can within days get time on the Hubble to image one of the discoveries we made - SN2013ek. There will be a lot of real science about that discovery available in early 2014, and when we can we will be making it available here on IIS.

[astroron]

Congrats Peter :thumbsup:
Well done the BOSS team.

Cheers :thumbsup:

[jjjnettie]

:) Congratulations.

[AdrianF]

Wish I had your patience

Congrats

Adrian

[naskies]

Congrats Peter! Well done and well deserved!

[PeterM]

Atel 5338 released shows it to be a type II event.
http://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=5338

[h0ughy]

Well done Peter and Peter Aldous

[Paul Haese]

Well done Pete and the BOSS group.

[Martin Pugh]

Well done Peter

cheers
Martin

[Suzy]

Well done and congratulations Peter & Peter. :)

[PeterM]

Thanks Suzy and all for your support.
Meanwhile Stu has discovered another 3 supernova this week!
BOSS are now at 75 Supernova!
There is a real change now in the way that Super Nova are announced. Once only the realm of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) through CBAT with an official release through a Central Bureau Astronomical Telegram (CBET). It is now clear that as more and more spectra are obtained and released through ATels (Astronomers Telegram) which are then released to the astronomical community much quicker than CBETs ever were that many supernova with a spectra taken wont get an IAU designation. So it seems the IAU no longer hold data for all supernova discoveries as they have until recently.
With the volume of professional discoveries ever increasing and the rapid flow of data it was inevitable that change would come, indeed be necessary if quick scientific follow up is needed. CBETs appear to be the new "snail mail"

[gary]

Congratulations Peter M, Peter A, Greg , Stu and the BOSS team!

Simply incredible!