Supernova in M66

[PeterM]

On the 2nd July, prolific supernova discoverer (76 now from memory) Berto Monard from South Africa discovered a magnitude 16.6 supernova in M66 (NGC3627) catalogued as 2009hd.

M66 has had 3 previous supernova - 1973R (mag 14.5) discovered by Rosino. 1989B (mag 13) discovered by Bob Evans and 1997bs (mag17) discovered by LOSS

Interesting to look at the list of prolific supernova producing Galaxies over the last 100 or so years.
NGC6946 = 9 Supernova,
NGC5303(M61) & NGC5236 (M83) = 6 Supernova each
NGC2276, NGC3690, NGC432 (M100) = 5 Supernova each
10 Galaxies with 4 Supernova (including the above discovery)
26 Galaxies with 3 Supernova
161 Galaxies with 2 Supernova

Would certainly be worth imaging M66 with its new "guest star" and perhaps submitting a colour image to The Bright Supernova page as we don't often see nice colour images there (link below). It is quite possible the supernova may also brighten.

http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/snimages/

PeterM.

[TrevorW]

Peter whats the statistics on our own

Thanks

[PeterM]

Hi Trevor,
Thanks for asking.
The 3 galaxies each had their first supernova discovery.
NGC6722 & IC2160 were type 1a events -incineration of a white dwarf - my condolences to snow white....
NGC5967 type 1c -probable Hypernova.
All 3 are very Southern galaxies as my 1000 or so targets are all South of -40, and all are spiral galaxies brighter than mag 14. As I regularly image about 100 galaxies per night I figure my odds are pretty good.
Perhaps more interesting is that my visual search scanned some 5000 plus galaxies with no result. My first (ccd) SN came after 12,000 images, second after 1700 images and third after 1500 images.
I check my images as I go rather than the next day as many I know do, as I figure I have a better chance of discovery and reporting quickly.
TG Tan (Western Australia - has 3 discoveries) has an article in the current US Sky & Tel (and hopefully in OZ) about Supernova hunting on a shoestring - ie 9.25inch Celestron and homebuilt ccd.
PeterM.

[TrevorW]

Thanks Peter for that just as an afterthought how many supernova (recorded) in the Milky Way and anticipated ocurrences per 100 years

[PeterM]

Hi Trevor,
That is a great question indeed.
Oops... by the way just reread your original question and noted it asked "in our own" not your own.... didn't gel you were asking re Milky Way...I should cut down on the port.
Some sources indicate we should have about 2 per century in the Milky Way.
The links below give information on historical supernova in the Milky Way and some dubious candidates as well as what appears might be a very recent supernova as noted in National Geographic. I will have to do some more reading on that one.
PeterM.
http://messier.obspm.fr/more/mw_sn.html

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/05/080514-supernova.html

[TrevorW]

Thanks Peter I read that it is believed Eta Carinae is the next prime candidate for a supernova in the not do distant future. Is this correct and are you aware of any others. As to Eta I would assume some serious observation is being conducted if this is the case.

[PeterM]

Hi Trevor
Here are 2 links that maybe useful.
The first is fairly recent from 2 researchers who seem to have studied Eta Cariane a fair bit. And it is an interesing read.
Eta Carinae going supernova in my lifetime would be the astronomical icing on the cake for me, after having seen Halley's Comet, Supernova 1987A in the LMC, Comet Shoemaker Levy Impacts into Jupiter (saw the plumes from the G&K impacts) Comet Hyakutake - looked exactly as the ancients described a classic comet - a dagger hanging in the sky. Some of the Leonid Meteor Shower and of course the unforgettable Comet McNaught. Top that off with a few of my own SN and you wonder how much better can it get in ones lifetime.
The next link identifies some of the Milky Way candidates for possible supernova in the future.
Suffice to see we really don't want a type 1a supernova too close to home....very bad for business.
PeterM.

http://365daysofastronomy.org/2009/02/12/february-12-eta-carinae-and-supernova-imposters/

http://wapedia.mobi/en/Supernova?t=7.

[TrevorW]

Thanks Peter interesting reading

[ngcles]

Hi Peter & All,



Interesting and thanks for posting that. But, I think they missed the most likely one of all -- Sher 25 in the giant open cluster NGC 3603 not far from the Eta Carinae complex in our sky and also the NGC 3576 complex. NGC 3603 is one of the brightest and most massive OCs known in the Milky Way. It is significantly larger than the Trumpler 14/16 clusters in the Eta Carinae complex. Westerlund 1 (Ara) is probably the largest of all. HST has taken some wonderful images of NGC 3603 -- do an image search.

See also:

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap970812.html

http://spider.ipac.caltech.edu/staff/brandner/topics/ngc3603/ngc3603.html

http://jumk.de/astronomie/big-stars/sher-25.shtml

http://www.iop.org/EJ/article/1538-4357/489/2/L153/975590.web.pdf?request-id=1ba6d254-e9fc-47c7-b0bb-04d2dabe9abe

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westerlund_1

I wrote NGC 3603 up in Feb/Mar 2009 AS&T "Spotlight-on".

Sher 25 on the outskirts of NGC 3603 is a very, very similar star to the progenitor to 1987A and has already produced the bipolar outflow nebula that 1987A produced 20,000 yrs before it exploded.

It is 20,000 ly away and therefore it might well have already happened. ie the message is on the way -- possibly. In any event it is without doubt a ticking time-bomb. In astronomical time-scales it will basically occur any minute.

Sher 25 is a strong candidate for the "next one" award and very, very well placed for southern observers. Watch this space ...


Best,

Les D

[PeterM]

Thanks indeed for those links Les.
So there is the possibility of viewing a supernova event in our own galaxy, hopefully within the next 30 years or so - based on my own possible expiry date.
PeterM.