ADVANCES
NASA/Swift/P. Brown, TAMU
Supernova 2014J
Supernova Blast in Cigar Galaxy
In late January a supernova was discovered in the Cigar Galaxy, or Messier 82.The supernova is so bright it can be seen by small telescopes for the next few months. Even though the supernova is about twelve million light years away, it is still as bright as magnitude twelve! The long distance of the supernova also means that it occurred twelve million years. ago. The light from the dying star is just reaching Earth. Another cool addition to this supernova is that it is a type 1a supernova. These types of supernova help astronomers find cosmic distances.This is so because all 1a supernovae are the same brightness. The supernova in M82 was created when one dense white dwarf star started taking material from its orbiting red dwarf. The white dwarf soon held too much material and exploded into what we see today. So try to see this supernova before it dims out.
By Grant Regen