Supernova in M82 (near the big dipper)

[GorG]

While you were sleeping, a supernova was spotted "practically next door" and it is, to paraphrase Joe Biden, a big freaking deal.

The stellar explosion occurred in the galaxy Messier 82 (M82), about 12 million light years from Earth. This means the star exploded nearly 12 million years ago and we're just seeing it. University College London claimed to be one of the first to spot the supernova, one of the closest since the 1980s.
It's a huge deal.


Want to see the supernova for yourself? Look into the constellation Ursa Major in the Northern Hemisphere. Skymania provided this map:

The best time to see the supernova "is as soon as the sky gets dark when it’s already up in the northeastern sky above the Dipper Bowl," reports Universe Today.

http://www.universetoday.com/108462/astrophotographers-rush-to-capture-images-of-new-supernova-2014j/

http://blogs.discovery.com/inscider/2014/01/a-star-just-exploded-next-door-and-its-a-huge-deal.html#mkcpgn=fbsci1

[ekguy]

was reading about this. Pretty intense. Crazy how visible it is!!!

[D'z Nutz]

http://www.virtualtelescope.eu/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/sn2014j_14apr2013_22jan2014.gif

[roll_over]

From the Arash blogspot: gamma ray burst ends world as we know it

[Deetz]

Wow, that is pretty cool!!!

[ICEBERG]

Heard about this from Cloudynights forums. Going to try taking some new pictures of M82. Need clear skies... This is one of the brightest galaxies in the sky, so i won't have too much trouble capturing it. Going to require long exposures and sophisticated processing, hope i will have time over the weekend.

[sexualbanana]

Two questions:

1) Can I see this with the naked eye?
2) If so, is this going to be part of the sky for a long time?

[01RedDX]

.

[mazdavirgin]

It is not visible to the naked eye and is not expected to be even at peak which will be as mentioned in about 2 weeks or so... So you either have to get your telescope out or at bare minimum binoculars. 10th supernova of the year but yeah the closest and an atypical supernova since it's type Ia.

[clem24]

Originally posted by sexualbanana
Two questions:

1) Can I see this with the naked eye?
2) If so, is this going to be part of the sky for a long time?

Even with a backyard scope it'll just look like any other star though a bit brighter. Still pretty cool. Pretty neat that this happened 12 million years ago and we're just learning about it today... Talk about broadcasting delays. :nut:

[n1zm0]

^ Yeah, even if it's a small spec of light, it's still something awesome to see just given the facts.


Originally posted by GorG
This means the star exploded nearly 12 million years ago and we're just seeing it.

http://i.imgur.com/j74SykU.gif

[n1zm0]

A coworker took some pics of this last night and showed me, very visible with the appropriate equipment, glad I got to see it!

[Graham_A_M]

Holy shit, I had no idea. I'll have to get out of town and have a good luck.

[Toma]

Originally posted by roll_over
From the Arash blogspot: gamma ray burst ends world as we know it

I doubt that, aRash is smarter than that.

Quick calculation shows me that Earth would only receive 0.000000000000000000000000000000000779% of the total energy released AT MOST.

[CompletelyNumb]

Originally posted by Toma


I doubt that, aRash is smarter than that.

Quick calculation shows me that Earth would only receive 0.000000000000000000000000000000000779% of the total energy released AT MOST.

http://cache.desktopnexus.com/thumbnails/598936-bigthumbnail.jpg

[revelations]

Oddly enough, there is some evidence that a nearby supernova (close than this) happened about 12,000 years ago causing massive changes on the planet.