Supernova 2008fa - Congratulations Peter Marples

[Greg Bryant]

Hi all,

Today's CBET 1475, from the IAU's Central Bureau, announces the discovery of a magnitude 17.6 supernova in NGC 6722 by Peter Marples of Queensland.

The supernova was discovered on CCD images taken on the evening of August 20 (only 3 days past Full Moon) with a 12-inch (30-cm) telescope.

Colin Drescher, also from Queensland, measured the brightness.

Steve Quirk of NSW was quick to report the accurate position.

Great Australian teamwork!

Regards,
Greg Bryant
Australian Sky & Telescope magazine

[h0ughy]

wow, now that means that peter can write his name up on the window blackout at Astrofest and correct the score - Brendan 1 Peter 1

congratulations Peter

[AstralTraveller]

Wow, mag 17.6!! That is impressive.

Aren't Aussie amateurs doing some great work? Supernovae discoveries, comet discoveries, great planetary images, Pluto occultation light curves, asteroid occultations, asteroid light curves, variable star observations ... etc etc.

[Dennis]

Thanks for the report Greg and congratulations to Peter. I admire the patience, skills and diligence required to pursue this exciting but somewhat niche activity of amateur astronomy.

Cheers

Dennis

[coldspace]

Congratulations Peter,
I knew it was only a matter of time for you to get one. Over 12000 :eyepop:thousand images to get it. Shows how rare of a discovery it is to nab one and at 17 magnitude , well done mate. Time and patience has payed off.
Once again well done mate :party2::bowdown:.

Regards Matt.

[CometGuy]

A big hurray for Peter!

It was quite a anxious few days for Peter as he waited confirmation, so its good to see 2008fa showing up officially today.

Terry

[thunderchildobs]

Darn. The Peter bet me that if he didn't find a supernova by the next qld astrofest he would shout me lunch.

Brendan

[coldspace]

Looks like you may be shouting the next lunch Brendan :D.

Matt.

[PeterM]

Thanks indeed for your messages of congratulations.
We are indeed fortunate that in Australia and on this site there is a wealth of talented and knowledgeable people who are willing to assist at a moments notice, at anytime of night. A big thanks to Bob Evans, Steve Quirk, Greg Bock, Colin Drescher, Terry Lovejoy and Brendan Downs for their valuable advices and assistance with the reporting of my first discovery.

Berto Monard the prolific Supernova discoverer from South Africa was able to quickly image the suspect and get back to me with a very important confirmation/image.

I have attached a combined image put together by Greg Bock of several that I took of SN2008fa. My images are single 25 second images using a 12inch LX200ACF(R) operating in alt az mode @ F7 with a Starlight Xpress SXVH9.

Cheers
Peter Marples

[Matty P]

Congratulations Peter, :)

An impressive discovery indeed. To find something that dim is somewhat unbelievable and rare.

Well done Peter! :thumbsup:

[jjjnettie]

Congratulations Peter!
You've done a tremendous amount of work on this and I'm very very happy that it's finally paid off for you.
So who's going to find the next one? You or Brendan?

[gaa_ian]

A great discovery !
Always nice to see a Supernova going off in someone Else's Galaxy
I can see a good report on this one for my science show next week !

[iceman]

That is excellent news! Congratulations indeed, Peter!

[Phil]

Congratulations Peter

[RB]

Wow !!!
A big congratulations Peter, well done on your discovery.

:clap:

[manny]

Congratulations Peter (that truly deserves a gold medal):thumbsup:

[Outbackmanyep]

Congratulations Peter! I'm sure all the hard work is definitely worth it!!!

Cheers! :thumbsup:

[Kal]

Congratulations Peter!

Coldspace mentions over 12000 images to nab your 1st supernova, I'm just wondering how many galaxies you would image in an average week, and how long this has taken overall?

Look forward to your second discovery now! :D

[PeterM]

Hi Kal,

I have been searching for supernova for about 12 years. In that time I have confirmed 3 for Bob Evans, come close to discovering a couple that had already been recently discovered and checked quite a few suspects for others along the way - I mention this as it has helped keep that spark alive and well. Initially I was searching visually and then about 4 years ago I switched to CCD imaging. This year I have really cranked up my imaging by making some of the process automated, but I choose to eyeball each image as I take them rather than check those images a day or so later. I have this year taken 5000 plus of those 12,000 images that Cold Space noted. As far as nights per week. I try to get in at least 3, weather permitting. In order to be more succesful at this I really need to start imaging early into the morning sky but there are family constraints on that.
Just as an aside, all the local papers have contacted me and are interested in "star blows up in galaxy far, far away". So rather than shy away from this I am using it to thank those who assisted and present our light pollution concerns - ie Brisbane skies could look like Beijing (topical) skies if we don't control/regulate/educate re our runaway lighting. We can legally protect a 100 year old derelict building for future generations but not our night skies for our kids, grandkids...
Sorry to be so long winded, but thanks.
Peter

[RB]

Well put Peter.

[thunderchildobs]

An article on Peter and his supernova appearred in today's Courier-Mail

[Stephen65]

Great work Peter, congratulations

[astro_south]

here is a link to the article online...

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,24251419-3102,00.html

[maksutover]

Excellent! Congradulations Peter! Aussie amateurs rock!

[Phil]

congratulations Peter just seen you on channel Ten news.
Phil

[NQLD_Newby]

Wow thats a lot of photo's. Dedication at it's best. Congratulations Peter and well done, you give the rest of us something to aspire to.

[Ric]

Congrats and well done Peter, I can only imagine the buzz you must feel when you finally nail one.

I've only been searching for supernova's for about 18 months now, nothing to report yet but I'm loving every minute of it.

Cheers and enjoy the hunt.

[PeterM]

Thanks again all,
Channel 10 was a surprise. The level of media/public interest caught me well off guard, people really do want to know about the universe around them . A few things re; obtrusive lighting and amateur astronomy as a hobby in Australia were left out and the bit in the paper about astronomy being like buying a boat and costing $....was not quite what i had said but they did a good job overall. There maybe a feature article in this weekends Courier Mail.
Rick, I wish you well in your own search and I look forward to passing onto you the same congratulations when you find your first supernova. If you would like any of my reference material please send me a PM.
Regards
Peter

[JethroB76]

Crikeys! A journo added stuff you didn't say? That'd be unusual!:lol:

Well done on the SN Peter, must be an enormously satisfying..

[AdrianF]

JUst read the article but didnt see the Ch10 news, we dont get it in the 'outback'. Congratulations on your discovery.

Adrian

[PCH]

Congratulations indeed Peter :eyepop:

But if it's possible to explain in a layman's sentence, - how the blinking flip do you set about deciding that this diddy little 'star' is a supernova. I mean, just how do you know it is? I'm absolutely astounded beyond description.

Cheers,

[PeterM]

Hi there Paul, this might be a bit long (again) but might be help.

I have been taking images for several years now so I have a pretty good list of my own reference images as well as images from other amateurs like Alex Wassilieff New Zealand and also from the Digitised Sky Survey images.

I had quite recently imaged NGC6722 several times so it was immediately apparent that a "new" star even though faint, was on the 25 second mage that I took on the 20th. I then took several more images and yep was still there so no image faults. The next step was to check for known minor planets - there is a minor planet list available that you put the RA & Dec of the area you are interested in and it lists minor planets down to something like 20th mag. Next check for known variable stars, again there is a list you can go to as above and put in RA, Dec. So both are clear. Now an image say 1/2 or so later and there is no movement in the suspect so that helps to rule out a new and undiscovered minor planet (but more images later cement this). So now some friends help out. Greg Bock and Colin Drescher get a fairly accurate position and magnitude of the suspect from my images using Astrometrica and CCD soft. I call Brendan Downs to supply a confirming image and he is at Chess, bummer. So Steve Quirk in NSW obliges immediately and calls me with yup it's in his images as well and he has an accurate position.

So by now it's about 11.30pm. I have spoken to Bob Evans and it is then decided to send an email to the CBAT (IAU) and wait and see what they announce. In next day or so a South African Berto Monard himself a prolific supernova discoverer responds to my email and he also confirms the new star and this all adds to the evidence. The next 2 nights I image another 150 galaxies looking for another supernova ... and on it goes all the while re improving my reference images.

So there is a process, and it worked pretty well. I still got excited though when I saw the first image of that star and then realised that it hasn't existed for some 240 million years.....
Cheers
Peter

[PCH]

Hi Peter,

thanks so much for going to the trouble of that great reply. It certainly took away much of the mystery. I see how you've confirmed that the new star is definitely new by comparing your older images with new images from a variety of trusted sources - including yourself. But how can you conclude that this 'new' star is a supernova and not some other type of star.

I imagine it's clear by now that I haven't the faintest scrap of knowledge in this area :P. For example, it may be that new stars are always supernovae for some reason. I'd appreciate clarification of this last point if you have the time Peter. I'd say it may be helpful to others on the forum too.

Thanks for your patience. :thumbsup:

Regards,

[PCH]

And Peter, with all this fabulous stuff you're doing, how come you've only posted 8 posts since joining in mid 2006 ??:P ;)

Cheers

[PeterM]

Good question that I didn't really answer.
The new star is really classed by the International Astronomical Union in their announcement as an "apparent supernova". This announcement is sent out to all subscribers to the CBET service (Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams - "Telegrams" being as sort of ongoing tradition even though they are emails) that reports transient objects - this site explains it better http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/cbat.html Subscribers include major observatories who may take spectra of the apparent supernova to determine its type, broadly Type 1a or 2 (there are other classes). As I understand it, professionals are now mainly interested in supernova brighter than mag 14 (usually means they are close) and secondly if fainter and there is a negative observation within about a week prior to discovery (means they are caught early). This gives them the window of opportunity to see the supernova rise in brightness and that will then tell them much more about the processes that may have initiated the Supernova, which seems somewhat but not entirely understood.
Sn2008fa has risen in brightness, last night my images and images from Steve Quirk put it at about mag16.5, so it has probably peaked. My last observation prior to discovery was over a week old.
Have any professional scopes taken spectra to determine type - don't know, may be some time yet before we know. But is it a Supernova? The odds say certainly yes as it has followed the pattern of so many before it and it will fade like them into obscurity in a few weeks (there is an interesting case with a recent transient discovery in NGC300 - not a SN or Nova or variable, perhaps stars colliding? )
So why only 8 posts on Ice In Space? My interest is firmly in Supernova hunting, I spend most nights in my observatory, I have a 20yr old son who requires most all of my time during the day. I do enjoy reading posts on Ice In Space and do so as often as I can. I have been surprised by the interest in my discovery and seeing the posts from so many well wishers. So here is my opportunity to give a thank you back.
Thank you Paul for your excellent question.
Regards
Peter

[Jen]

:clap::clap::clap:
Great work Peter congratulations :thumbsup::thumbsup:

[PCH]

Peter,

thanks very much for that also excellent explanation. I'm glad I asked, and now I really do understand the process behind the discovery and classification of these objects. Many thanks for your time and trouble Peter. Hey, maybe if more of us spent more time looking upwards and less time on here, we might be in the running to make a valuable contribution also ;) Happy hunting in future !

Best wishes :thumbsup:

[AstroJunk]

Well done Peter, Well deserved and I'm looking forward to the next!

Here's a 'quickie' from tonight. It's still there:thumbsup:

Jonathan.

[Jen]

:thumbsup: nice pic :thumbsup:

[Kevnool]

Congatulations Peter , Hard work and persistance has found pay dirt.........cheers Kev.