M82 Goes Supernova
Star explodes in one of the nearest galaxies to Earth
Astronomers across the world are reaching excitedly for their telescopes, as a star has just gone supernova in a galaxy very close to Earth.
The Messier 82 galaxy, also known as M82 or the ‘Cigar Galaxy’ is located in the constellation of Ursa Major in the night sky. To find it, look north, locate the Big Dipper and draw an imaginary line from the bottom-left part of the bucket to the top right. Continue that line about as far again, and you should be looking right at it.
The galaxy is just 12 million light years from Earth, and very bright — more than five times more luminous than the Milky Way. In its centre, young stars are being born ten times faster than in our galaxy.
Inside that galaxy, a previously-unknown star — now named SN 2014J — has exploded dramatically. Astronomer Steve Fossey was the first to spot it, from the University of London Observatory while showing four students how to operate the telescopes there.
He said: “The weather was closing in, with increasing cloud, so instead of the planned practical astronomy class, I gave the students an introductory demonstration of how to use the CCD camera on one of the observatory’s automated 0.35–metre telescopes.”
While Fossey was aiming the scope at M82, one of the few bits of sky not covered with cloud, he spotted a star that he didn’t recognise. They compared their images with previous ones of the same galaxy, and found it was new. The International Astronomical Union agreed, and it became the tenth supernova to be discovered in 2014.
That doesn’t sound too impressive, but what’s notable about this one is that it’s both very close to Earth and — according to analysis from other astronomers — a useful Type 1a supernova. These are known as “standard candles” as they always explode with the same brightness, and are therefore used to measure distances in space.
The supernova is not yet at its peak brightness, so you’ll need a telescope to see it. However, by the middle of February it should brighten up to become just about visible with binoculars on a clear night.
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