Supernova Discovery

[PeterM]

Howdy all,

Thought I might let you know about my 3rd Supernova discovery that has just been announced.

It is designated 2009gd and is on CBET1842 (International Astronomical Union).

I found the 16.4 magnitude supernova in the 12th magnitude galaxy NGC5967 in Apus at about 8pm on Tuesday evening .

I officially included the tremendous help that I received from other amateurs (and Ice In Space members) - Colin Drescher and Greg Bock for accurate positional and magnitude confirmations, Jeremy Moser and Matt Brown for images and advices - thanks guys!

Unfortunately others who always go out of their way to help, like Steve Quirk and TG Tan were clouded out, while for Brendan Downs (Thunderchild) the galaxy was behind trees and Pat Pearl was drumming away with his band.

Stu Parker in New Zealand managed to get a confirmation image in between clouds early this morning. I have attached his image with the position of the SN marked.

I guess what I am saying here is that while it is great to make a discovery, without the dedicated help of others it makes things much more difficult to get it announced and they deserve to share in the reward.

And I have now have a name for my observatory and my search programme - Backyard Observatory Supernova Search (BOSS) which if I ever get another one will be used to include all those who assisted. This is already done by the likes of POSS (Puckett Observatory Supernova Search) CHASE (CHilean Automated SEarch), BRASS (BRazillian Automated Supernova Search). There were some others discounted that maybe described me and not the search (ha, ha, ha).

Will now wait and see what the pros get as far as a spectrum to determine its type.

PeterM.

[iceman]

Wow, fantastic result Peter! Well done indeed.

[toryglen-boy]

Thats great news Peter, i would be well happy

congrats


:thumbsup:

[Baddad]

Hi PeterM, :):thumbsup:

Ya done good, man.:eyepop:Woo Hoo.

Cheers Marty

[Robert9]

Fantastic! Well done!

Robert

[astro_south]

Great stuff Peter - deservedly seeing some rewards for your dedication :thumbsup:

[AstroJunk]

You're beginning to make it look easy Peter! If the weather had been better in Brisbane you would have been up to number thirty by now:thumbsup:

Very well done.

[BerrieK]

Peter, one step foreward for mankind!!

Congratulations on your discovery, and to those who have helped you.

A great name for you observatory, by the way.

Kerrie :) :)

[astroron]

Not another one :P
Congratulations Peter and all who helped:thumbsup:

[h0ughy]

congratulations Peter - so whats the score now between you and Brendon?

[AstralTraveller]

Great!! Some of the work done by amateurs is wonderful.

[Ric]

Great news Peter and congratulations.:thumbsup::thumbsup ::thumbsup:

Fine work indeed, those long hours do pay off in the end.

Cheers

[Robh]

Peter,
Reward for a keen eye and perseverance.
Well done! :thumbsup:

Regards, Rob.

[Phil]

congratulations Peter well done.
Phil

[ngcles]

Hi Peter & All,

Congratulations and well done Peter -- due reward for patience and persistence.


Best,

Les D

[erick]

Another star bites the dust! :sadeyes:

Congratulations on the discovery :thumbsup:

[mozzie]

congrats peter see you at astrofest
mozzie

[AdrianF]

Well done Peter ........ but can you leave some for the rest of us? Please?

Adrian

[alan meehan]

Bang goes another one well done Peter

[peter_4059]

Great effort Peter. Well done.

[jjjnettie]

Congratulations Peter!!
A stupendous effort.

[spacezebra]

Congrats Peter

Well done, you must be extremely chuffed.

Cheers Petra d.

[Octane]

Peter,

That is so very cool. Congratulations to you and the dedicated for their assistance.

Is there a web page that you would recommend for reading about how to go about observing supernovae, or a write-up in your own words?

Thanks!

Regards,
Humayun

[PeterM]

Hi David,
That would be 3 to 1, but it is just a matter of time before Brendan catches up as he is putting in the effort.

And thank you all for your good wishes.
PeterM.

[PeterM]

Hi Octane,
I will write up something over the next week or so. A good place to start is the bright Supernova page (below). There is a link for those interested in starting their own supernova search as well as much up to date information and images of current (and past) bright supernova.

There are several local amateur astronomers conducting searches and I believe TG Tan (from Perth who has discovered 2 supernova) has an article coming up in the July/Aug Sky and Telescope so that will be worth reading.
http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/SNIMAGES/
PeterM.

[thunderchildobs]

Peter is going to be unbearable at this years qld astrofest. :)

Brendan

[dpastern]

Congrats Peter, very well done.

Dave

[Bassnut]

Very impressive Peter, I know from my GRAS experience that Supernova discoveries are a sought after, rare, and well regarded event, well done.

[coldspace]

Congratulations Peter,

I was on the phone with him talking about my new observatory that is just started getting built at the moment, and while we were chatting away about astronomy and my observatory he paused for a minute, so I asked whats wrong and then he started saying F---,F--- among other things, Matt I think I got another, I then replied B--- Sh-- really, so I stayed on the phone for half hr, and kept him focused and cooled him down so he could start minor planet searches among other things as well as taking confirmation images and checking out lists. He has include me as a contributer to this discovery and although in my books I did bugger all, I am honoured to be included in this and to help out where I can. Its not that often you are talking to someone on the phone then they discover another exploding star 100 MLY away. The rush that happened to us on the phone last night makes you want to take up this part of astronomy as it was way cool and hard to discribe unless you have been there.

I have phoned my carpenter friend tonight and ordered him to get this observatory finished so I can get into this hobby alot more.
Peter has helped me over the years in this hobby alot and his passion for it is addictive. He has helped me heaps with the new observatory thats is getting built at my place and also helped me stay in the good books with the "ministry of finance" while I spend a lot of $ chasing my addiction in Astronomy. It helps lots when your wife likes someone and then you can go spend more money on astro gear without too much hassel, Thanks Peter. It works over here just keep up the charm mate.
It not just me, Peter has helped countless in this hobby over the years without ever expecting things in return, he would be one of Australia's most experienced Amter's around.
If you know this guy like I do you will agree that this 3rd trophy is well deserved and hope you bagged lots more S/nova's.

Regards Matt.

[Octane]

Peter,

Thank you so much for the reply.

Is there a bare minimum aperture that you would recommend?

I'm primarily an imager and own only a couple (three) refractors.

I could be swayed to purchase a Dob...

Regards,
Humayun

[wavelandscott]

I will gladly add my hearty congratulations and well done to this thread!

[citivolus]

Nice one Peter :) I really need to stop by and check out your setup.

Congratulations!

[bloodhound31]

It must take some real dedication to discover things like this! Take a big pat on the back Peter.

Baz.

[firstlight]

When I spoke to you 18 months ago, I remember you saying that you WILL discover a supernova within a year. At the time I thought that it was wishful thinking, after all who does not want to excel in their interests, but here you are with no 3... Well done, but your tickets are still not getting into the raffle ;)

Tony

[PeterM]

Hi Octane,
The great supernova sleuth Bob Evans used a 10inch Dob for many years to visually discover many bright (mag12 -13ish) Supernova. While I won't be controversial and say visual searching is dead, it is at best going to exceedingly difficult to visually discover one with all the ccd searches going on. Bob Evans will always be the most likely exception to what I have just said. Oops I nearly forgot, quite possibly Astroron using his 16inch - simply because he is very experienced, knows his galaxies and regularly searches them. I wish Ron well, the next visual discovery will indeed be a momentous achievement. Don't rule out the LMC & SMC for another possible naked eys Supernova. I won't try to cover the whole subject here, basically a 10inch newtonian on a say an EQ6 with a CCD is certainly going to give you a very, very good opportunity to find your own supernova (even smaller setups 8 inch on EQ5 or 8inch SCT on fork mount - you only need fairly short exposures). The more sensitive the camera the better and monochrome ccds have the edge, discoveries have been made by others using Meade DSI's, Orion Starshoots etc. I will post a summary of my set up but essentially you need to build up a reference library of images taken with your setup. You need to learn about or have other experienced amateurs willing to assist by way of confirmation, astrometry, and photometry - programmes like Astrometrica are very useful. And you need to take lots and lots of images - it is simply a numbers game. you may go for years before you find one, but never, ever give up if that is what your passion is as you will be rewarded.
I am a bit of a hack, no expert by far, I love the time at the scope taking and comparing images - the hard work is done by good friends like Colin and Greg.

To all thanks again for your posts.

And Matt, I think what I said at the time was "oh my goodness, gracious" don't know how you heard me say something crude....hehe
More later in a different thread or maybe file for IIS.
PeterM.

[CometGuy]

Peter,

Congratulations on your latest discovery, they are starting to come thick and fast now :)

We were discussing how much technology has improved over the years, with mag 18-19 now being easily within the range of amateurs with CCD cameras and standard size telescopes.

Terry

[Jen]

:clap::clap::clap::clap:
Thats awsome news Peter well done :thumbsup::thumbsup:
:prey2::prey2: