Supernova 2008ax in Cocoon Galaxy - NGC4490

[Greekastronomy]

-> Telescope: Meade LX200GPS 14" f/6,3

-> CCD: Meade DSI 3 (First Light)

-> Guiding Telescope: SkyWatcher 4"

-> Guiding Software: PHD 1.7.4

-> Filters: None

-> Processing: MaximDl / AstroArt / PhotoShop CS3

-> Exposure: 53min

-> Date: 18 March 2008

-> Place: Rafina Attikis

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http://www.greekastronomy.gr/ontelescope/index.htm

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[centroid]

A nice capture of a Super Nova, well done!!

Dave

[themos]

That's a bit special, isn't it?

[steppenwolf]

Excellent, well caught!

[thing]

Great shot. How would a beginner like me know that it isn't just a foreground star? Is it because you observe this galaxy a lot and know that it wasn't there before?

[jgs001]

Cool shot and well captured. I have the same basic question as thing. Was it just luck that you happened to have pointed the scope at that point and caught it ?

[themos]

There's a well established network for supernova discoveries.

http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/supernova.html

[jgs001]

Aha, Thanks for the info. As there's 19 still showing as active, I guess it's just a case of picking one, pulling up it's location and pointing the gear at it.

[thing]

Thanks for that Themos!

[Sam]

That's a very cool picture! Nice to see this on the forum.

[supernova]

Excellent pic well done Cant wait till Betelgeuse goes supernova.

{dont look a bit like me hehe}

[Sam]

It may have already happened!

[Cloudwatcher]

Excellent pic well done Cant wait till Betelgeuse goes supernova.

{dont look a bit like me hehe}

It may have already happened!

With my skies I'd not be the first to see it that's for sure!

CW

[legion48]

There's a well established network for supernova discoveries.

http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/supernova.html

Blimey! I thought those sucker where rare! :shock:

[Astroman]

There's a well established network for supernova discoveries.

http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/supernova.html

Blimey! I thought those sucker where rare! :shock:

Not really that rare. They're just so faint on average they don't make a big splash. Brighter ones, like SN2008d are odd because they were observing one in the galaxy when another one went off-in the same galaxy! Now, that's rare!

Anyway, they're coded by the name they get. SN is supernova, obviously, 2008 is the year discovered, and the first 26 letters are capitalized, and after that they are pairs of lower case letters starting with aa, ab, ac and so on. So, SN2008ax is the 50th discovered this year.