Picture this.
My mates and astro friends Greg Bock and Pat Pearl from Queensland are having dinner and a late night with Stuart Parker in Christchurch New Zealand last Friday evening, having met for the first time through a common interest in Astronomy, specifically supernova hunting. I first got to know Stu through an email he sent to the International Supernova Search Yahoo site, he was looking for like minded astronomers "down south".
During that night some 60km away Stuarts observatory (C14, Paramount, ST8) is automatically working hard taking images of some 300 galaxies for possible supernova. Day or so later Stuart checks his images and in NGC134, a beautiful edge on galaxy in Sculptor, an object catches his eye (against reference images). "Don't know what it is, but it ain't local" (from "Contact").
Stuart has been searching for his first supernova for many years, staying persistent, for a holy grail that when the first is found it is kind of like a religous experience.
Problem is by now Stuart is a long, long way from home on holidays when he checks his images.
Stuart contacts myself for follow up and a plan is put in place. Unfortunately it is pouring rain all day and night so I am out for a confirmation image. Stuart enlists a friends observatory ontop of a cold mountain, some 40 minutes away from the nearest internet connection to try get a confirmation image. It's going to be a long night, here and in NZ.
In the meantime things are happening in Oz. Colin Drescher spends a lot of time getting the photometry and astrometry, limiting magnitudes of DSS images etc. While Greg Bock provides a reference from his earlier searches.
Me? I'm just chillin' out making calls sitting in front of pc and sending emails to keep everyone in the loop - three (or was it 4?) glasses of port also helped.
Having built up a pretty good contact list I am able to get in touch with Steve Quirk to take a confirmation image, and yay his sky is clear. I receive Steve's image at 1.30am this morning and yes, he too has the suspect in his image - at about 16th magnitude and at the precise position Colin measured (these guys are good). Things are looking fan tas tic! By the way you can't confirm a supernova on the basis of one image, several images hours apart is mandatory.
By now we have all the necessary information in place to send to Dan Green at CBAT (International Astronomical Union). The discovery details - an accurate position and magnitude, reference image from the Digitised Sky Survey (DSS2 R) with relevant limiting magnitudes, confirmation image from Steve Quirk (Mr reliable at anytime of the night). The galaxy has been checked for known minor planets and known variable stars. So off goes the report of a possible supernova discovery - Stuarts first.
Well we have just got the CBET (IAU announcement) that it is listed as SN2009gj on CBET1856. So my hearty congratulations to Stuart Parker of New Zealand on his first of what I bet are many discoveries. And a big pat on the back to those who stayed up until the wee hours this morning to send off the report and get things right.
We now await spectra being taken to determine its type.
By the way, my recent discovery 2009gd in NGC5967 has been "typed" as a Type 1c event - a huge stellar explosion (maybe 10 - 100 times the mass of the Sun) probably a Hypernova.
I love this hobby - the wonderful people whose words you read, whose amazing pics you see and whose voices you hear on the phone but may never meet. To those just starting out in Astronomy on this site, buckle up you are in for one heck of an experience, if you stick at it!
Stuarts discovery image is attached and more details can be found at
http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/snimages/
Astro imagers if you are up at around 2am the superb galaxy NGC134 should be pretty well placed for a nice image with a "guest star" awaiting your imaging talents.
PeterM.
to IceInSpace!
