File:Hubble views new supernova in Messier 82.jpg

Page contents not supported in other languages.
This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Original file ‎(3,000 × 2,080 pixels, file size: 3.24 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Summary

Description
English: Spiral galaxy Messier 82 has long been known for its remarkable starburst activity, caused by interactions with its near neighbour Messier 81, and has been the subject of intense study for many years. On 21 January 2014, astronomers at the University of London Observatory in London, UK, pointed their telescope at the galaxy and spied something peculiar… an intensely bright spot seemed to have suddenly appeared within the galaxy [1].

This bright spot is actually a new supernova known as SN 2014J — the closest supernova to Earth in recent decades! Since its discovery, SN 2014J has been confirmed as a type Ia supernova, making it the closest of its type to Earth in over 40 years (since SN 1972E) [2]. This new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is set against a previous mosaic of Messier 82 from 2006 (heic0604a), and shows the supernova as an intensely bright spot towards the bottom right of the frame.

Type Ia supernovae are even more exciting for astronomers, as they have particular properties that we can use to probe the distant Universe. They are used as standard candles to measure distances and help us understand the scale of the cosmos. Catching such a supernova so soon after its explosion is very unusual; this early discovery will enable astronomers to explore its evolution in great detail, and to potentially infer the properties of its progenitor star.

Messier 82 is several times more luminous than our Milky Way. Because it is only 12 million light-years away, it is one of the brighter galaxies in the northern sky. It can be found in the constellation of Ursa Major (The Great Bear). The supernova is currently visible through a modest amateur telescope, so why not see if you can spot it from your back garden?

The image shown here was taken on 31 January 2014 with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3. This image is inset into a photo mosaic of the entire galaxy taken in 2006 with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys.

Notes

[1] The supernova was discovered at 19:20 GMT by a team of students — Ben Cooke, Tom Wright, Matthew Wilde and Guy Pollack — assisted by Dr Steve Fossey. The supernova is visible in pre-discovery images of the galaxy.

[2] Supernova SN 1987A, discovered in 1987, was closer to Earth than SN 2014J, but it was a type II supernova rather than a type Ia.
Date
Source http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1409a/
Author

New supernova image: NASA, ESA, A. Goobar (Stockholm University), and Hubble Heritage

Image of Messier 82: NASA, ESA and the Hubble Heritage Team STScI/AURA).

Acknowledgment: J. Gallagher (University of Wisconsin), M. Mountain (STScI) and P. Puxley (NSF).

Licensing

w:en:Creative Commons
attribution
attribution
 ESA/Hubble images, videos and web texts are released by the ESA under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license and may on a non-exclusive basis be reproduced without fee provided they are clearly and visibly credited. Detailed conditions are below; see the ESA copyright statement for full information. For images created by NASA or on the hubblesite.org website, or for ESA/Hubble images on the esahubble.org site before 2009, use the {{PD-Hubble}} tag.
Conditions:
  • The full image or footage credit must be presented in a clear and readable manner to all users, with the wording unaltered (for example: "ESA/Hubble"). Web texts should be credited to ESA/Hubble (except when used by media). The credit should not be hidden or disassociated from the image footage. Links should be active if the credit is online. See the usage rights Q&A section on the ESA copyright page for guidance.
  • ESA/Hubble materials may not be used to state or imply the endorsement by ESA/Hubble or any ESA/Hubble employee of a commercial product or service.
  • ESA/Hubble requests a copy of the product sent to them to be indexed in their archive.
  • If an image shows an identifiable person, using that image for commercial purposes may infringe that person's right of privacy, and separate permission should be obtained from the individual.
  • If images or visuals are changed significantly from the original work (apart from resizing, cropping), we suggest that the changes are mentioned after the credit line. For example "Original image by ESA/Hubble (M. Kornmesser), warping and recolouring by NN".

Notes:

  • Note that this general permission does not extend to the use of ESA/Hubble's logo, which shall remain protected and may not be used or reproduced without prior and individual written consent of ESA/Hubble.
  • Also note that music, scientific papers and code on the esahubble.org site are not released under this license and can not be used for non-ESA/Hubble products.
  • By reproducing ESA/Hubble material, in part or in full, the user acknowledges the terms on which such use is permitted.
w:en:Creative Commons
attribution
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
Attribution: ESA/Hubble
You are free:
  • to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work
  • to remix – to adapt the work
Under the following conditions:
  • attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

Captions

Add a one-line explanation of what this file represents

Items portrayed in this file

depicts

some value

inception

3 March 2014

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current00:53, 11 March 2014Thumbnail for version as of 00:53, 11 March 20143,000 × 2,080 (3.24 MB)JmencisomUser created page with UploadWizard
The following pages on the English Wikipedia use this file (pages on other projects are not listed):

Global file usage

Metadata

This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create or digitize it.

If the file has been modified from its original state, some details may not fully reflect the modified file.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hubble_views_new_supernova_in_Messier_82.jpg"