Nearest supernova since 1986 blasts boffin off her chair Boffins across the world have united to study a young supernova just 21 million light years away, to help figure out more about the way that various chemical elements - including those making up our own bodies - are formed. The Palomar Transient Factory caught SN 2011fe in the Pinwheel Galaxy in the vicinity of the Big Dipper …
RTFA. According to the article you linked, Supernova 1987A was a different type as it originated from a supergiant, not a white dwarf. The article said this is the nearest Type 1a supernova (white dwarf with non-giant companion) since 1986. The information in your link supports the statement in this Reg article.
* bonus points for the first person who can identify the titular quote.
> RTFA.
I did, twice actually. Might I respectfully suggest that you do so?
> According to the article you linked, Supernova 1987A was a different type as it originated from a supergiant, not a white dwarf.
Agreed.
> The article said this is the nearest Type 1a supernova (white dwarf with non-giant companion) since 1986.
No it didn't say that. I wondered whether that was meant, so I read it through again to check.
To quote from the article, as of Friday 4:19pm, "The supernova, located in the Pinwheel Galaxy next to the Big Dipper, was the nearest to Earth since 1986".
> The information in your link supports the statement in this Reg article.
The statement that isn't there?
> * bonus points for the first person who can identify the titular quote.
or spell it.
Have a nice day :-)
-- James Ph. Kotsybar
The remnants of supernovae disperse
behemoth art, when stars annihilate.
“Sombrero”, “Crab” and “Horseshead” populate
the gallery of our known universe.
There’s “Ant,” “Tarantula”, and Pelican.”
There’s “Eagle” and “Pillars Of Creation,”
and even one called “Big Running Chicken.”
One slightly resembles our great nation.
These interstellar Rorschach tests reveal
the shapes we recognize within our world,
like “Hamburger,” “Butterfly” and “Pinwheel,”
but they are the guts of stars that are hurled.
Each may have destroyed some sentient race,
but, “Look! It’s like a pretty rose in space!”
I got it with my 8" scope when it was at magnitude 11 (100x fainter than what the eye can see) and climbing, followed it through its maximum at mag 10 (visible in binoculars), and back down to just mag 13 (630 fainter than the naked eye kan see). It was amazing. The kids also had a peak and did their best to wake the neighbours with their shouts of "We've seen a supernova! We've seen a supernova! We've seen a supernova!"
Really neat to see such a bright one. It is odd to think all heavier atoms in your body were forged in the furnace of the core of a star, and that everyone is a supernova remnant.
"What's interesting about that is that Type Ia supernovae were the ones used in the 90s to calculate the expansion of the universe, and they're also used in the search for dark matter."
I only ask as in another reg article it states that its type 1a that is used to calculate the expansion of the universe.
"First, it's a Type 1a supernova, especially interesting to astronomers because..."
(see http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/08/26/type_1a_ptf_11kly_supernova_discovered/page2.html)
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