Astronomers Have Observed A Cosmic Event In Great Detail That They Only Had Glimpses Of Before

Science Editor
Aug 26, 2017 · 1 min read
Simulation of a Type Ia supernova in which material ejected from the explosion (red) runs into a companion star (blue). This collision adds extra ultraviolet light to the supernova as viewed from Earth. Credit: Dan Kasen

A supernova and its explosive ejecta slamming into a nearby companion star.

The discovery was made possible by a specialized survey taking advantage of recent advances in linking telescopes across the globe into a robotic network.

David Sand, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona, discovered the supernova on March 10, 2017, in the galaxy NGC 5643. At 55 million light-years, it was one of the closest supernovae discovered in recent years. Designated SN 2017cbv, it was found by the DLT40 survey, which stands for “Distance Less Than 40 Megaparsecs” or 120 million light-years. The survey uses the PROMPT telescope in Chile, which monitors roughly 500 galaxies nightly…

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