A supernova explodes near the Milky Way

Last Wednesday was a special brightness in the periphery of the spiral galaxy M101 which corresponds to a supernova in the Great Bear. Probably the fact go unnoticed for most people, but is perhaps more important than the spectacle could be observed in a static and permanent always sky, the explosion of a supernova.

A star explodes millions of light years:

The star whose explosion was detected last Wednesday 24, belongs to the Pinwheel galaxy, one of the first to be listed as classified Messier M101. In photographs published by tracking equipment from distant astronomical events in the CalTech Palomar Observatory, one can observe a point on the periphery of one arm.

The M101 is a spiral galaxy, similar to the Milky Way is 25 billion light years. Given that the diameter of our galaxy is 100,000 light years, the distance between galaxies is not very big in astronomical terms.

In a comparison to an infinitesimal scale, one could say that the proportions would be similar to the sizes and distances between cities such as Madrid and Albacete or Mexico City and Morelia, or even a little more distance by boat from Buenos Aires and Montevideo.

In any case, telescopes such as Hubble, Keck in Hawaii, the ESO in Chile and those in the Roque de los Muchachos on the Canary island of La Palma, have no problem in viewing the event. In fact, it may not at first sight but it will be possible to see the glow of what looks like an average size star in a clear sky with good binoculars.

Its onset was detected by an automatic:

The event has been monitored since its first glimpse on Wednesday 24 thanks to the automatic celestial observation PFT Palomar Observatory. Since it was unveiled the news in scientific circles, the notice has spread like wildfire and several research teams have begun to gather significant data of the event.

“We know that is the type Ia supernova ever observed younger”, Said Peter Nugent Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, who heads the research group of type Ia supernovae with PTF. “This thing came out suddenly from nowhere” He said later in Nature to explain the sudden appearance of the flash.

The dramatic death of a giant star:

A supernova is the spectacular death of a star of enormous size. Our sun could be classified as a medium-sized star throwing small, which fortunately for the Earth is lucky. Failure to be very large, making the hydrogen contained in it takes much to be consumed by thermonuclear fusion processes that occur inside.

In contrast, a larger star, known as the red giant in its final stage, once the hydrogen has been consumed, they try to live based on fusion materials consume heavier. So generate helium, lithium and if they could, all the periodic table.

In the case of the star that just exploded in a supernova in M101, the measurements of the spectrum found absence of helium, while there is a strong line of silicon. These spectroscopic measurements have led to the star burst is defined as type Ia.

Supernovae eject all the material of the star:

A supernova is one of the most accepted theories of spatial reuse of material, because by the explosion, the material contained within it is expelled omnidirectional, spreading through space. After an indefinite period, certain accumulations of matter can lead to concentration of new primordial star.

The vision of the giant flare is a process that lasts for weeks and sometimes months, why, you can enjoy your vision maybe in about ten days, when its brightness has increased.

However, the challenge for amateur astronomers is raised with a little help to direct the telescope toward the constellation Ursa Major. Their equatorial coordinates, Right Ascension: 14h 3m 12.6 s and Declination: +54º 21 ’57′.