PESSTO snaps Supernova in Messier 74

Eso_potw1335a_1024

eso_potw1335a September 2nd, 2013

Credit: ESO/PESSTO/S. Smartt

ESO's PESSTO survey has captured this view of Messier 74, a stunning spiral galaxy with well-defined whirling arms. However, the real subject of this image is the galaxy's brilliant new addition from late July 2013: a Type II supernova named SN2013ej that is visible as the brightest star at the bottom left of the image. Such supernovae occur when the core of a massive star collapses due to its own gravity at the end of its life. This collapse results in a massive explosion that ejects material far into space. The resulting detonation can be more brilliant than the entire galaxy that hosts it and can be visible to observers for weeks, or even months. PESSTO (Public ESO Spectroscopic Survey for Transient Objects) is designed to study objects that appear briefly in the night sky, such as supernovae. It does this by utilising a number of instruments on the NTT (New Technology Telescope), located at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile. This new picture of SN2013ej was obtained using the NTT during the course of this survey. SN2013ej is the third supernova to have been observed in Messier 74 since the turn of the millennium, the other two being SN 2002ap and SN 2003gd. It was first reported on 25 July 2013 by the KAIT telescope team in California, and the first "precovery image" was taken by amateur astronomer Christina Feliciano, who used the public access SLOOH Space Camera to look at the region in the days and hours immediately before the explosion. Messier 74, in the constellation of Pisces (The Fish), is one of the most difficult Messier objects for amateur astronomers to spot due to its low surface brightness, but SN2013ej should still be visible to careful amateur astronomers over the next few weeks as a faint and fading star. Links PESSTO (the "Public ESO Spectroscopic Survey of Transient Objects")

Provider: European Southern Observatory

Image Source: https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1335a/

Curator: European Southern Observatory, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Messier 74 SN 2013ej
Subject - Local Universe
Star > Evolutionary Stage > Supernova
Galaxy > Type > Spiral
Eso_potw1335a_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 1h 36m 41.9s
DEC = 15° 47’ 0.3”
Orientation
North is up
Field of View
3.9 x 4.0 arcminutes
Constellation
Pisces

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Blue NTT (EFOSC) Optical (B) 440.0 nm
Red NTT (EFOSC) Optical (R) 640.0 nm
Green NTT (EFOSC) Optical (V) 548.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Blue
Red
Green
Eso_potw1335a_1280
×
ID
potw1335a
Subject Category
C.3.1.8   C.5.1.1  
Subject Name
Messier 74, SN 2013ej
Credits
ESO/PESSTO/S. Smartt
Release Date
2013-09-02T10:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1335a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
New Technology Telescope, New Technology Telescope, New Technology Telescope
Instrument
EFOSC, EFOSC, EFOSC
Color Assignment
Blue, Red, Green
Band
Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
B, R, V
Central Wavelength
440, 640, 548
Start Time
Integration Time
900, 900, 900
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
24.174379, 15.783407
Reference Dimension
980.0, 985.0
Reference Pixel
491.392819922, 483.365588288
Scale
-6.715965e-05, 6.715965e-05
Rotation
0.00363702805
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
European Southern Observatory
URL
http://www.eso.org/
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
European Southern Observatory
Publisher ID
eso
Resource ID
potw1335a
Metadata Date
2013-08-28T08:27:54+02:00
Metadata Version
1.1
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Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

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There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

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