Two Supernovae -- Caught in one pic

[qzzq]

From NewScientistSpace.com:<ul type="square"><b>Supernovae explode in rare double-whammy</b><br /><br />A portrait of two supernovae that exploded just five months apart in the same galaxy has been made by NASA's Swift telescope. The galaxy, called NGC 1316, has now produced four supernovae in 26 years, the highest rate ever measured.<br /><br />All four supernovae were of type Ia, which are thought to occur when a stellar ember called a white dwarf collects too much matter from a companion star, igniting a runaway nuclear reaction that tears the white dwarf apart.<br /><br />The supernovae were both initially detected from the ground by an amateur astronomer in South Africa named Berto Monard. Swift was then called upon to make observations at ultraviolet and X-ray wavelengths.<br /><br />The first event was detected on 19 June 2006 and appears as a yellowish spot on the right. The second event was detected on 5 November, and appears as another spot at mid-left.<br /><br />...<br />The white patch between the two supernovae is the galaxy's bright core. The spot at far left is a star in our own galaxy that happens to lie in the same direction as NGC 1316.<br /><br />...</ul>And here's the pic! <img src="/images/icons/cool.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p>***</p> </div>

 

[qso1]

Tough galaxy to live in I imagine. Any idea how far off it is? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[qzzq]

From the article:<ul type="square">...The host for these supernovae is a massive elliptical galaxy about 80 million light years away that appears to have merged with a spiral galaxy within the past 2 billion years.<br />...</ul> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p>***</p> </div>

 

[blazincajun]

Awesome pic. Any idea on what the purple is in the image? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[5stone10]

Accretion jet from the galactic core would be my guess.

 

[robnissen]

Very cool. And very impressive that both were found by an amatuer. IMHO discovering a supernova is why cooler than just another comet. And to find two is really impressive. I am very surprised, however, that he found the second one. I always thought that new supernova were extensively studied. I'm surprised the "pros" didn't find the second one while looking at the first.

 

[qzzq]

I can imagine that projects like the SWIFT telescope have tight time schedules, that it is not easy to get disc time to study new objects, so they may have only gotten the chance to take a 'look' after the second discovery. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p>***</p> </div>

 

[enigma10]

Great pic! <br />.<br />.<br />.<br />Why do i feel like its staring back at me? <img src="/images/icons/frown.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"<font color="#333399">An organism at war with itself is a doomed organism." - Carl Sagan</font></em> </div>

 

[mikeemmert]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>I am very surprised, however, that he found the second one. I always thought that new supernova were extensively studied. I'm surprised the "pros" didn't find the second one while looking at the first. <p><hr /></p></p></blockquote>And who would be the one to study it most extensively? Why, the original discoverer, of course! <img src="/images/icons/cool.gif" />

 

[pyoko]

paste:<br /><br />The white patch between the two supernovae is the galaxy's bright core.<br /><br />Someone asked what the purple was. That is a fake cololur of magnitude, right? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p><p><span style="color:#ff9900" class="Apple-style-span">-pyoko</span> <span style="color:#333333" class="Apple-style-span">the</span> <span style="color:#339966" class="Apple-style-span">duck </span></p><p><span style="color:#339966" class="Apple-style-span"><span style="color:#808080;font-style:italic" class="Apple-style-span">It is by will alone I set my mind in motion.</span></span></p> </div>

 

[stefanimmler]

Hi --<br /><br />I am a member of the Swift satellite team at NASA and created the image above. Just found this board and thought I'll reply.<br /><br />"I can imagine that projects like the SWIFT telescope have tight time schedules, that it is not easy to get disc time to study new objects, so they may have only gotten the chance to take a 'look' after the second discovery."<br /><br />Indeed, space-based observations are expensive and we have a busy schedule. We usually observe each SN on a daily basis for the first week or two after discovery, and then observe every other day or so for a month. The first SN in this galaxy (SN 2006dd) was already a few months old when the second SN (SN 2006mr) exploded and we were observing SN 2006dd every week at this point. The second SN went off a few days before our planned observation took place, that's why we didn't discover it despite our monitoring program on SN 2006dd.<br /><br />

 

[alokmohan]

Amature astronomers work well.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Not so true with comets anymore.<br />Most are discovered by SOHO (although often with amateur help) and large scale telescopic searches for NEO's or all sky surveys. Amateurs do still discover some, but the percentage is much smaller now.<br /><br />Of the 200 discivered in the last year, 143 were discovered by SOHO, 20 by All sky surveys LINEAR, LONEOS, Siding Spring NEAT, Spacewatch, SWAN, and Catalina.<br /><br />That leaves 37 others by humans. 11 are by McNaught, Rob is borderline amateur/Pro, 7 By Christiesen, 4 by Hill, and 15 by all others including only 1 Levy, and 1 Shoemaker Levy.<br /><br />So human searches only discovered 18.5% of comets in the last year. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[robnissen]

Welcome to the board and thanks for the interesting post. I'm sure I can speak for most here in saying that we really appreciate when the people working on the various projects discussed here take the time to post and discuss their projects. Thanks again.