Supernova 2011b

[george7378]

Last night, I decided to try my luck with the galaxy NGC 2655 and SN2011b (my first supernova sighting) I found the galaxy after about 20 minutes of star hopping, looking at the patterns in the sky, and coming back in to check Stellarium. When the galaxy eventually did come into the field of view, it was suprisingly evident for a galaxy with a surface brightness of +13.2, and was visible even at 120X as a circular fuzzy patch with a defined core. I saw the SN after observing with averted vision, and it was a really profound thing - the last burst of light the star will ever give, ending its 64 million year journey on my eyes. I was even able to ramp up the magnification to an amazing 240X and still see the SN and the galaxy core with averted vision. I found that the objects were best viewed at 120X though. I made a sketch of the SN and surrounding stars. It appeared to be as bright as the core of the galaxy - about mag. 13.2 (+/- 0.5 magnitudes I would guess). Here are my sketches:

I will definitely be returning to the galaxy to see it evolve over the weeks.

 

[RisingFury]

Wow, good job!

Yea, supernove usually get as bright as their whole galaxies. All the light that's stored in them for the next ~100 000 years, bouncing from particle to particle, now comes out in a few days

 

[george7378]

I took an image with the Bradford Robotic Telescope (http://www.telescope.org/) on the 1st March 2011 at 01:30 UCT. The supernova has pretty much receded below the capabilities of my 10-inch telescope, as I looked visually a few days earlier and was not able to see it. I would estimate it to be dimmer than magnitude 14, and thought I would take a picture of it with the BRT before it subsided completely. The image is copyrighted to the BRT, and processed by me:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/georgekristiansen/5489324537/

 

[SiberianTiger]

Amazing! That's like a salute from the end of dinosaur era! :hail:

 

[tgep]

Well done ! I've spent many a long night roaming the sky hopping from one galaxy to another. There are some things you never forget .... like your first good look at Centaurus-A and then Omega Centauri ......