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PeterM
21-04-2010, 06:20 PM
BIG congratulations to Stuart Parker (Park123) for his 8th Supernova discovery SN2010bv in PGC 68345 aka ESO 533-4. As reported in CBET 2255 (official notification from Central Bureau Astronomical Telegrams -International Astronomical Union).
PGC & ESO being catalogue numbers in the Principal Galaxy Catalogue & European Southern Observatory.

Stuart will no doubt have something to say here about his latest as soon as he gets some sleep.

In the meantime, with assistance from other members of the BOSS team (Backyard Observatory Supernova Search) we were able to very quickly check all the data/catalogues etc, and then double check. Member Colin Drescher (data whizz king perfecto) sent the precise details in a report to CBAT.

All in all that brings the BOSS collective count to 11 SN in just over a year (Stu's 8 in 10mths) and this expected to grow very quickly over the next few years.

A big thanks must go to Joseph Brimacombe (Cairns) for his prompt assistance (as usual and at all hours) in obtaining a confirmation image using some of the many professional setups he has access to around the world. Joseph has turned into THE most prolific imager of reported SN discoveries in the world, there is rarely one he doesn't image, just astonishing his contribution to this area alone.

Can't forget to thank Steve Quirk who has been available at a moments notice, again at all hours of the night on recent occasions that ended up being nothing.

The magnitude of the Supernova is 15.4 so a little faint for most backyard visual observers.

We don't yet know if it is brightening and will keep this thread up to date with any relevant information. It's a very early morning object and imagers here encouraged to have a go because it stands out like, well... you know...

We don't know the type yet (the professionals will get a spectra to determine this) i.e. Type 1a, White Dwarf star siphons matter from a companion Red Giant star until it exceeds a certain mass and BANG! or a Type II (2) where a relatively young Gigantic star (several times the mass of the Sun) has exhausted its fuel supply. With the outward pressure that had supported the star for so long now gone, the star collapses in on itself as gravity wins the battle, a shockwave rebounds off the iron core, BANG! there goes a nudder one. For a while outshining its host galaxy, it's light travelling for perhaps tens of or hundreds of millions of years to end up on Stuart Parkers ST8 CCD chip, mounted to his C14 on his Paramount on his dairy farm in NZ, the biggest BANG in the universe (well pretty much) doesn't wake his wife or upset the cows! And Stu is a happy boy, again!



You can see more details. including images at the site below.

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

PeterM.

DavidU
21-04-2010, 06:29 PM
That's fantastic Pete. He really has done well.

Greg Bryant
21-04-2010, 06:31 PM
Congratulations indeed to Stuart.

Peter wrote a great article on Stuart's first 7 supernova discoveries in the April issue of Australian Sky & Telescope. Seemed almost ironic that #8 coincided with the appearance of the next issue!

Greg

DavidTrap
21-04-2010, 08:56 PM
Well done "team".

Peter is Joe Brimacombe a doctor per chance? If so, I know of him for other reasons. Haven't met him, but have heard many tales of his many talents - including snorkling with an anaesthetic airway down his gob.

DT

jjjnettie
21-04-2010, 09:30 PM
Congratulations Stu!
Well done to the team!

PeterM
21-04-2010, 09:31 PM
Hi David,
He is a Doctor (and I think Doctor maybe short of his credentials, for which I apologise) and I believe anaesthetics from memory.
PeterM.

renormalised
22-04-2010, 08:59 AM
Chalk up another one!!!!

Congrats to Stu and the team:)

Park123
25-04-2010, 04:50 PM
Hello All,
Thanks to Pete for his post and Thanks to all who helped with the reporting and conformation images- Colin Drescher a great guy a real wiz at Astrometrica. It ended up being a bit of a relief to manage to get this one as over the past couple of months I have missed 2 other SN.I did image them before the Discovery was made but due to my poor lack of processing I missed the new SN. So I missed out on the discovery this has made it a long couple of months. To get this Supernova I had to image 7543 galaxies. My eyes have nearly popped out of my head looking at the computer screen over the past few weeks as my wife said your “obsessed and quite mad”.
My average before this was 1 supernova per 900 images
I have included here a really poor image that I took a few days ago of the new supernova. The seeing here was really bad due to the galaxy being only about 20deg from the horizon when taken but it does show the SN which was very easily seen.
Lets hope I don’t have to wait that long again.
Thanks again for all your kind comments.

Stu Parker:screwy:

New Zealand