University College London undergraduates found the nearest supernova star to planet earth in the Messier 82 galaxy BBC News reported Thursday.
"One minute we're eating pizza then five minutes later we've helped to discover a supernova. I couldn't believe it," Tom Wright a student told BBC News. It reminds me why I got interested in astronomy in the first place," Wright told BBC News. The students made the find after participating in an assignment BBC News reported.
"We pointed the telescope at Messier 82 - it's quite a bright galaxy, quite photogenic. But as soon as it came up on screen, it didn't look right to me," Dr. Steve Fossey, told BBC News. "We fired up another telescope, we got another frame - and that was when we knew it was a supernova," Fossey told BBC News. Fossey worked with the students on the academia.
According to BBC News, the star might develop even more in the next weeks until it disappers BBC News reported.
Supernova stars blow up, and become illuminated in the sky according to the Merriam Webster online dictionary.
"Although it is not visible to the naked eye there is a considerable interest as Messier 82 is such a nearby galaxy," Thierry Montmerle, general secretary at the International Astronomical Union told SPACE.com. "Many telescopes around the world are now taking measurements (light curves and spectra) to determine which kind of star was the progenitor (the 'mother star')," Montmerle told The Union.
"The two large problems with using Ia for distance measurements, are the progenitors, what the star that explodes actually is, and how dust affects these measurements," Brad Tucker, an astronomer told Space.com. "So the fact that this [supernova] is a Type Ia, caught young, means we have a good chance of finding clues to the explosion," Tucker told Space.com.
"By knowing there is lots of dust, we can analyze out how the dust is impacting the colors of the [supernova] and therefore the distance measurements, and use this to calibrate other [supernovas]," Tucker told Space.com. "In short, this is the Holy Grail," Tucker told Space.com.
