Supernova discovered in M101 tonight

[robin_astro]

Koichi Itagaki has discovered a supernova  in M101 tonight. 

https://www.wis-tns.org/object/2023ixf

mag 14.9 at discovery, it has  been confirmed and classified spectroscopically as SN 2023ixf, a type II (core collapse) supernova

Robin

[andrew63]

Remember the thrill of seeing the famous bright one in M101 a few years back - wonder how bright this will become?

 

Edited May 20, 2023 by andrew63
info

[Lee_P]

Thanks for the heads-up, I'm currently imaging M101. I wonder if I caught it!

[robin_astro]

Latest measurement  2023 May 20.4517UT  by Robert Fidrich on VSNet-alert puts it already  at mag 13.  Being a type II, it probably wont get as bright as type 1a 2011fe in M101 did though which reached mag 10

 

Cheers

Robin

Edited May 20, 2023 by robin_astro
typo

[harrym]

Observed this with the 12" Northumberland refractor. It's already brightened to around magnitude 12! Managed to spot the ten NGC-designated star clouds in M101 too; some were pretty difficult, e.g. NGC 5451 and NGC 5458.

[Jeff C]

Here’s an animation of before and after the event: [https://www.astrobin.com/full/7jvafm/0/?mod=&real=](https://www.astrobin.com/full/7jvafm/0/?mod=&real=)

Coincidentally I imaged M101 on thursday night pre-supernova, so I conveniently had data from just about 24 hours before the event   

When I heard the news, I pointed the telescope to the same area of the sky on Friday night and took a bunch of frames.

Processed both sets of subs to 2 images, then got those images stretched and looking about the same brightness, and crop size...Put them in blink and captured a movie off the screen, converted to an animated GIF.

Note the star is not blinking.   This is flipping between two imaging sessions, captured about 24 hours apart.

The background is a little lumpy from in-town light pollution.

[robin_astro]

38 minutes ago, Jeff C said:

Coincidentally I imaged M101 on thursday night pre-supernova, so I conveniently had data from just about 24 hours before the event

The supernova is clearly there in your first image. It was discovered on Friday ~17:00 UTC but there are pre discovery images found so far which show it back to Thursday evening (UTC) see

https://www.wis-tns.org/astronotes/astronote/2023-125

Apologies if I have already asked you about this image on Cloudy Nights (I get confused with the different names) but what is the date and time on the first image ?

(These images are potentially important scientifically to constrain the exact time of  the explosion)

Thanks

Robin

Edited May 21, 2023 by robin_astro
clarification

[Nik271]

I just had a look at SN 2023ixf and it's much brighter tonight. I estimate it about mag 11.5. It was easy to see with direct vision in my Skymax 127 at 11pm. I wonder how much brighter can it get ...

[Stu]

Link to some images in the imaging section

 

[Nik271]

I'm planning to have a look again tonight with my 102ED refractor. It has now been reported to be in the lower 11/ upper 10th magnitude range, should be even easier to spot. Perhaps even with binoculars.

[Sarek]

Absolutely thrilled to see this tonight.  Love this hobby!

Two screenshots from my ASiair tonight and 9th May

 

[John]

Got it with my little 70mm travel scope just now😁

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/385898-what-did-you-see-tonight/?do=findComment&comment=4382617

 

[Nik271]

I think it has peaked now, most visual observers put it at 11mag or just below for the past 2 days. It is expected to fade very slowly, giving us many opportunities to observe it. I could see it in my 20x80 skymaster bins last night.

[Lee_P]

54 minutes ago, Nik271 said:

I think it has peaked now, most visual observers put it at 11mag or just below for the past 2 days. It is expected to fade very slowly, giving us many opportunities to observe it. I could see it in my 20x80 skymaster bins last night.

Any idea how long it will take to fade completely?

[Nik271]

This one is type IIn and quite bright. The brightest example until now was SN 1998S which peaked at about 11.5 and then lost a magnitude over the space of 20 days. Here is a light curve of it from AAVSO. So perhaps 2-3 weeks to go down to mag 12 and 2-3 months to go below mag 15 if I have to guess. I doubt anybody knows for sure .

 

Edited May 25, 2023 by Nik271

[Grifflin]

Hi All

Couldn't pass up the opportunity to try and image this SN last night.  Have to apologies because the detail is awful as I couldn't get the guiding to work, camera tilt, possible collimation issues, no astro dark etc.  However, I was somewhat surprised to see what appears to be a jet coming out from the SN.  Might be an artefact of the poor imaging but thought I would post it here for interest.

RC 8 - ASI 2600MC - no filters - ~3.5 hours of 45s subs.

Stacked and pre-processed in WBPP.  Background extraction, SPCC, BlurX, EZsoft stretch, NoiseX.  no other processing.

Neil

Edit: Adding a smaller JPEG

M101-SN.tif

Edited May 25, 2023 by Grifflin

[Grifflin]

.....or it is so bright that it has caused a diffraction spike.  🫤  Doh!

[powerlord]

I just posed a wee animation video:

 

[josefk]

Thanks @robin_astro for the initial head's up on here and thanks @Nik271 for your "sat nav" directions in the aperture thread - they were perfect and went a long way to securing this observation for me last night - i'm absolutely delighted because it's my first!

 

 

[bish]

I used the AAVSO chart last night. M101 not visible at all. The SN looked to be about 11.5. With the moon and my murky sky I could of see down to about 12.5, so if it fades as the moon gets brighter I doubt I will see it again.

[robin_astro]

There is a excellent piece on this supernova in the "Science in Action" radio programme on the BBC World Service. Astronomers , both amateur and professional tanking enthusiastically about the discovery and what they know about it so far.  Some great Science and even a live observing session on the radio 🙂

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct4sc9

They talk about the way the early spectroscopy shows the interaction of the explosion with the surrounding circumstellar material. Here is an animation of  my measurements showing that early interaction during the first week

Cheers

Robin

 

[JeremyS]

Here's a light curve of the supernova from the BAA Variable Star Section:

[Nik271]

I managed a good look at the SN last night at about 1am (Best time for observing right now but so hard to get up the morning after!).

I had no trouble spotting it again in my 127 Skymax at 62x, it was slightly brighter than the 117 star in the AAVSO chart so I estimate it at 11.4 or thereabouts. It has dimmed a bit but still going strong! 

[John]

14 minutes ago, Nik271 said:

I managed a good look at the SN last night at about 1am (Best time for observing right now but so hard to get up the morning after!).

I had no trouble spotting it again in my 127 Skymax at 62x, it was slightly brighter than the 117 star in the AAVSO chart so I estimate it at 11.4 or thereabouts. It has dimmed a bit but still going strong! 

I forgot to look at it last night !

I came up with a mag 11.4 estimate when I last saw it a couple of nights back so it is still hanging in there 🙂

Edited June 8, 2023 by John

[iantaylor2uk]

There was a story in the news that the red giant which is thought to have been the star which went supernova was already known. More details at: https://www.uclan.ac.uk/news/uclan-researcher-identifies-origin-of-supernova