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Supernova hunting anyone?

nytecam

By nytecam
in EEVA - Reports

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nytecam

nytecam

Posted
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Anyone do supernova [sN] hunting?  It's ideally suited to video/EAA as very brief exposures go deep to <mag 17 and a lot of target galaxies can be covered in an evening.  You could get lucky and discover a SN in realtime !

My pic below shows two galaxies in the same fov eg NGC 7250 & 7248 in Lacerta - high in the east last night in 2x30s exposure.   I have running at the capture laptop "Digital Sky Survey" and bring up the target galaxies for comparison that I've added here to the image.  These survey pics are from the Palomar POSS red plates and go deeper than my shots - this is essential to be sure and 'interloper' and potential SN discovery is real.  At least two pics must be recorded of the field to be sure the 'new star' is real eg not a 'hot pixel' or faint asteroid etc.

No luck with this pair or other gxs in Lacerta that were taken last night but good fun and I combine it with other DSO shots like planetaries and open star cluster during the evening to give a mix.  Although it's a bit of a "needle-in-a-haystack" venture I discovered SN 2011az awhile back in the way described as linked below. ;-)

post-21003-0-24929500-1443953284.jpg

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Gazabone

Gazabone

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I think you have more patience than me and I admire you for it. SN add so much to astronomy and study but happen so infrequently (I think I read somewhere that there's an average of 2 SN per galaxy per century). I saw a program recently with Alex Philipenko who has done (doing?) some work in this area, his approach is to book scope time and photograph a range of galaxies several times in 2 week intervals.

I wish my skills were up to it but alas..... I shall have to make do with daydreaming about making such discoveries.

Good luck with it, and happy viewing.

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nytecam

nytecam

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I ran across this site awhile ago:

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

I thought you might enjoy taking a look. I like Nova and Supernovae. As long as it's not next door!

Cool site,

Dave

That site bookmarked and regularly visited with a pic now and then from me of others SN. The follow-up obs determine the SN's progress after discovery !

Nytecam

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Astrojedi

Astrojedi

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I have not been regular at it but once in a while I fire up GrepNova to compare frames... unlikely to match the robotic setups of some of the more dedicated folks looking for supernovae but one can get lucky...

Agree EAA is great for this as I will typically cover 15-20 objects in one session and I can use the unstacked frames from that session to look for supernovae.

Nytecam, what do you mean when you say you have been running "Digital Sky Survey"? If you don't mind can you describe your setup a little more. Thx.  

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nytecam

nytecam

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Hi Ajedi - my UK astro friends Tom Boles, Mark Armstrong and Ron Arbour have been SN hunting for decades with hundreds of SN discoveries credited to them. Their technique is to compare their own previous gx images with their new pic for new 'stars' then check the SN, asteroids and variable star sites to be sure - false alarms demote you!

Unfortunately it can in theory take many 100s of gx images before a discovery. I discovered mine 'much too early' so the chance of another is remote at my relatively low level of gx imaging but the chase is irrestible ! I'm connected to the internet at the scope and run Wikisky or Digital sky survey for a gx search when SH hunting and directly compare my gx pic to the digital pro atlas. Results 95% certain if clear of the bright gx core. You need to gen up on SN discovery registration via Google. Hope that helps.

Nytecam

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Jagho

Jagho

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Anyone do supernova [sN] hunting?

Hi,

I do, I'm using Lodestar X2 mono + 10" SW Quattro CF + G-40 mount

I've got 3 so far:

15.10.2014

http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/unconf/followups/J22394901+3812500.html

http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/sn2014/index.html#PSNJ22394901+3812500

12.06.2015

http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/unconf/followups/J17162885+0625585.html

http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/sn2015/index.html#PSNJ17162885+0625585

19.08.2015

http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/unconf/followups/J22412689+3917220.html

http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/supernova.html#PSNJ22412689+3917220

Jarek

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Astrojedi

Astrojedi

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Hi Ajedi - my UK astro friends Tom Boles, Mark Armstrong and Ron Arbour have been SN hunting for decades with hundreds of SN discoveries credited to them. Their technique is to compare their own previous gx images with their new pic for new 'stars' then check the SN, asteroids and variable star sites to be sure - false alarms demote you!

Unfortunately it can in theory take many 100s of gx images before a discovery. I discovered mine 'much too early' so the chance of another is remote at my relatively low level of gx imaging but the chase is irrestible ! I'm connected to the internet at the scope and run Wikisky or Digital sky survey for a gx search when SH hunting and directly compare my gx pic to the digital pro atlas. Results 95% certain if clear of the bright gx core. You need to gen up on SN discovery registration via Google. Hope that helps.

Nytecam

Thanks Nytecam. I think I need to pay more attention to SN hunting.

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Jagho

Jagho

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Thank you all.

Can you give us some sense of how long you have been doing this and how much effort went into your discoveries. Also some sense of your approach.

My supernova search project was starting in 2014 - own software creating, roll-off roof observatory building. Systematic searching since April 25, 2014.
Some statistics:
12285 images for the first discovery
18418 images for the second discovery
1606 images for the third discovery

My software sets a different exposure parameters (time, stacking) depends on weather conditions, moon phases and distance to galaxy (radial velocity/redshift) etc, so I never checked SNR for this exposure conditions.

Jarek

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nytecam

nytecam

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Thank you all.

My supernova search project was starting in 2014 - own software creating, roll-off roof observatory building. Systematic searching since April 25, 2014.

Some statistics:

12285 images for the first discovery

18418 images for the second discovery

1606 images for the third discovery

My software sets a different exposure parameters (time, stacking) depends on weather conditions, moon phases and distance to galaxy (radial velocity/redshift) etc, so I never checked SNR for this exposure conditions.

Jarek

Thanks Jarek - hope those big numbers don't put off anyone trying for SN hereabouts :-)

Nytecam

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Jagho

Jagho

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Thanks Jarek - hope those big numbers don't put off anyone trying for SN hereabouts :-)

Nytecam

I hope so too, Maurice :)

Besides, other discoverers statistics are much better:

Tim Puckett (one of the largest in the world) ~1 SN every 8000 images (300+ SN)

Robert Evens ~ 1 SN every 4000 observations (47 SN)

Peter Marples  ~ 1 SN per 5000 images (8 SN)

Stu Parker ~ 1 SN every 2800 images (57 SN)

(--- http://www.bosssupernova.com---)

You personally know Tom Boles and Ron Arbour. I'm sure, their statistics are also better than mine.

Jarek

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JB80

JB80

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This is one of the things I have always said I wanted to do, alas I think it will have to hold off until I can upgrade a number of things.

Well done to all who have a discovery to their belt, inspirational stuff! :)

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