Supernova 2011DH Begins to Brighten.
June 27th 2011 04:05
Category: Stars
These frames have been animated to show the location of the Supernova
When a star goes supernova the phenomenon gets the astronomers attention.
When a star explodes it can get extremely bright somewhat brighter than the surrounding stars.
Unless a star goes supernova within a few hundred light years it is hard to pick up with the naked eye.
Perhaps the brightest supernova we have seen without a telescope occurred in 1987 in Large Magellanic Cloud approximately 168,000 light-years away from Earth.
1987a was the first supernova to be easily visible with the naked eye for almost 400 years.
Supernova 1987a suddenly exploded(left image) Feb 1987
Currently another supernova has brightened during the last few weeks. Supernova 2011dh is located within the Whirlpool Galaxy, M51. For the time being Supernova 2011dh is leveling off it is bright enough to be see with medium size telescopes but it currently can’t be seen with the naked eye.
Supernovas remain relatively unpredictable they can suddenly brighten or go for years without any drams.
If you have a star chart you can spot M51 just after dark providing you have dark evening skies.
Observers with an 8-inch or larger telescope should be able to glimpse the supernova.
Supernova 2011dh is a recently new discovery first discovered in May 2011 by a French astronomer. It will be interesting to see if any more changes will occur over the next few weeks or months.
Asteroid 2011MD
Weather at my location is overcast any chance of spotting Asteroid 2011MD appear to be somewhat slim,so much for living in “Sunny” Queensland
Images curtsey of 1989-2010, Australian Astronomical Observatory,1987a photograph by David Malin.
M51 Lynn Hilborn , Ontario, animation by CMooreStars
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