NGC 4216 & Co with supernova SN 2024gy

[gorann]

The Japanese amateur astronomer Koichi Itagaki discovered the supernova SN 2024gy in NGC 4216 on January 4, 2024 (marked below). Before that he had accomplished the incredible feat of discovering more than 170 supernovas. At that time it was still quite dim but later increased in brightness. My image shows that it is still clearly visible.

I collected the data 12 April with the Margareta Westlund Telescope in Oria Spain (available to members of the Swedish Amateur Astronomical Society). Most images I have seen of these galaxies are RGB images. I thought it would be worthwhile to also collect some Ha, so this is a HaLRGB image revealing quite a bit of Ha regions in the galaxies.

Planewave CDK 17 with ASI6200MM. 20 x 2 min of each RGB, 87 x 2 min Lum, and 15 x 5 min Ha. Totally about 6.2 hours. Processed in PI and PS, including the new XT tools.

Cheers, Göran

[Sunshine]

Amazing! how long will this supernova be visible? and how fortunate you are to have access to this observatory.

[gorann]

3 hours ago, Sunshine said:

Amazing! how long will this supernova be visible? and how fortunate you are to have access to this observatory.

Thanks a lot! No idea about the SN, maybe nobody knows. After all it happened many million years ago😃. Yes, that scope is a great asset but not without problems. I had booked it for yesterday night but the roof refused to come off even if the sky was totally clear and no rain in sight. Those responsible for running it from Sweden could not get it working and I guess there were nobody awake in Oria, Spain. So a wasted night, but when it works it is generally without problems!