Another bright supernova goes boom in M95 near Mars

Posted on March 18, 2012 by astrobob

The new supernova - yet to be named - is M95 located just below Mars tonight in the constellation Leo not far from neighboring galaxy M96. The inset is a photo of the galaxy taken through a telescope. Credit: Jim Misti / Map created with Stellarium

Wow! Another bright supernova. This one was discovered less than 2 days ago in the bright Messier galaxy M95 in Leo. It’s still too early to know its type, but at magnitude 13.0 and rising rapidly, this one will probably be visible in small telescopes within a few days. Unlike the supernova in NGC 4790 reported here earlier today, this one is far from the galaxy’s center in an outer spiral arm. It’s also incredibly easy to find thanks to help from one of the brightest planets in the sky right now – Mars.

Mars is slowly moving westward toward Regulus, but tonight you’ll find M95 a mere 1/2 degree due south of the planet. Place Mars at the north end of your telescopic field of view, and M95 will be in the same view to the south. What a sweet coincidence! By Tuesday night, that distance will have increased to 1 degree. I’ll provide an updated map tomorrow showing Mars’ motion.

M95 is the 95th entry in a catalog of deep sky objects compiled by the astronomer Charles Messier in the 18th century. He created the catalog, so he could ignore these fuzzy comet-lookalikes as he hunted for comets, his favorite quarry. As anyone who’s looked at both comets and galaxies through a telescope, you know how similar the two appear despite their vastly different natures.

You can use this annotated photo of M95 to find the supernova in your telescope. It's located southwest of the galaxy's center (60" west, 115"south to be exact). Several stars are numbered with their magnitudes. Click image to see a couple photos of the new object on David Bishop's SN site. Photo credit: Jim Misti

M95 is a beautiful, multi-armed spiral with a starry bar through its middle. It’s located 38 million light years from Earth and spans some 50,000 light years, making it about half the size of the Milky Way galaxy.

The supernova is the only obvious star at "11 o'clock" from M95's nucleus as seen in a 10-inch reflecting telescope tonight. South direction is up and nearby bright stars are marked with their magnitudes. Illustration: Bob King

It’s not often a supernova pops off in a bright (mag. 9.7) Messier galaxy. Most are found in more obscure members of the galactic zoo. We’ll be watching the supernova tonight and every clear night. Magnitude 13.0 means you can see it at high power in a 6-inch telescope from dark skies. Anyone with an 8-inch instrument or larger should have no problem provided the air’s not too turbulent. Watch for updates and good luck in your hunt to see this star gone wild.

Update March 21, 2012 – The supernova, now named 2012 aw, remains steady at about 13.1 magnitude. It’s a Type IIP – the collapse and explosion of a supergiant star at the end of its life. Here’s a brand new blog on the topic. For more information and a chart including the movement of Mars, click HERE.

37 thoughts on “Another bright supernova goes boom in M95 near Mars”

Mike on March 19, 2012 at 8:54 am said:

What kind of magnification for an 8in to see this one?

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- astrobob on March 19, 2012 at 9:19 am said:
  
  Mike,
  Around 100x should do it.
  
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Mike on March 19, 2012 at 10:53 am said:

Thanks!

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Brian Primeau on March 19, 2012 at 11:55 am said:

Interestingly enough I was testing my 12″ ACF (at f/10) and ST-10XME Saturday night (March 17) on M95. Haven’t even looked at the data yet. I took about 100 or so 30-second images…wonder if I got it?

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- astrobob on March 19, 2012 at 12:05 pm said:
  
  Hi Brian,
  I bet you did. If so, let me suggest you go to Dave Bishop’s Latest Supernovae site and send him a copy. It might prove important in catching the supernova in its early stages. Dave’s e-mail: dbishop@vhdl.org
  
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Space on March 19, 2012 at 2:00 pm said:

Good job !

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Syed S on March 19, 2012 at 2:22 pm said:

Excellent, actionable coverage for amateur astronomers! Thanks Bob.

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- astrobob on March 19, 2012 at 2:49 pm said:
  
  Thanks Syed and Space! I hope you get a look at the SN.
  
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Jochen Broz on March 19, 2012 at 4:45 pm said:

Hi Bob,

thanks a lot for this. I have seen it with my 8″ Newton from Germany. You can not miss it. The supernova is in a similar distance and direction from M95, than the 10.2 mag Star from the 12.2 mag star in the north east of M95. This has been my first supernova. In my visual perception, the super nova is much fainter then the 12.2 mag star. Im curious how it evolves within the next days and weeks.

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- astrobob on March 19, 2012 at 5:14 pm said:
  
  Gratuliere Jochen! Es freut mich, dass Sie die Supernova beobachtet haben.
  
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Robert on March 19, 2012 at 5:47 pm said:

Thanks again Bob, managed to track it down in my 8″ Dob! I was looking at Mars and M95 last night marvelling at the sight of them in the same FOV but hadn’t realised there was something to add to the wow factor until I saw this post.

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- astrobob on March 19, 2012 at 6:12 pm said:
  
  Robert,
  That’s great to hear. I was surprised last night how close they were – almost too close! I had to up the magnification to keep Mars’ glare out of the field of view.
  
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Peter on March 20, 2012 at 4:49 am said:

Bob, thanks for this information! Hope to be able to see / photograph it this or tomorrow evening. I took a photo last Friday night of Mars and its conjunction with M96. M95 is there too but only 20 pixels large…

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Peter on March 20, 2012 at 5:45 am said:

If you look at http://www.oden.de/M95.jpg (which ist a very small part of the large picture) this could eventually be the supernova. I just sent it to Dave Bishop too.
Regards, Peter

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- astrobob on March 20, 2012 at 8:41 am said:
  
  Thanks Peter for sending. Catching a supernova on the rise can be a needed crucial data point.
  
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Tom Field on March 20, 2012 at 12:23 pm said:

Amateurs astronomers with 8″ telescopes and very short exposures are now able to determine the type of supernova as well as calculate the speed that the shell is expanding. Here’s an example from last fall: http://www.rspec-astro.com/sample-projects/#sn2012fe

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Martin on March 21, 2012 at 6:56 am said:

Any chance this will be visible with a 4″ mak scope?

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- astrobob on March 21, 2012 at 8:09 am said:
  
  Martin,
  It’s still at 13th magnitude. Under dark skies with your eyes dark-adapted the limiting magnitude for your scope is 13.2 magnitude. You’re right at the limit – worth a try.
  
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tom daams on March 21, 2012 at 10:46 am said:

astrobob rocks!!

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Karen Henderson on March 21, 2012 at 1:34 pm said:

Isn’t it unusual to be aware of 2 supernovae at the same time?

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- astrobob on March 21, 2012 at 1:38 pm said:
  
  Hi Karen,
  No, it’s not unusual. There are multiple supernovae normally visible at any particular time, but most are very faint. Two visible in modest scopes at the same time is somewhat out of the ordinary, but not exceptional. It’s good news for those who own a scope and have never seen a supernova before.
  
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  - Karen Henderson on March 21, 2012 at 2:43 pm said:
    
    I was not aware – but we sure are glad that Astrobob is!
    Many thanks – we’ll keep our eyes to the skies.
    
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LindaMarie on March 21, 2012 at 6:09 pm said:

Hi Bob, Great News ! My question is: Will this Supernova get any brighter as the months progress? ( since it is a NEW Supernova just born ) 3/18/2012.
second question: I have a 6″ Orion Reflector,with eyepieces down to 6.3mm & 7.5mm. ( I like pushing my scope to the limit) Would I have difficulty see the nova tonight ?

Sincerely LindaMarie

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- astrobob on March 21, 2012 at 7:13 pm said:
  
  LindaMarie,
  It shot up quickly to magnitude 13 and it’s still at 13.1. I think it will continue to brighten in the coming weeks, but I can’t say by how much. If I were you, I’d take myself and my telescope to as dark a sky as I could find and push it to the limit. It is within range of your telescope if you are patient. Let us know if you succeed. Good luck!
  
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Eteny on March 26, 2012 at 2:45 am said:

Hi Astrobob!

Great site you have here. I am still waiting for the skies to clear up to get a glimpse of this nova. Its been cloudy here in the Philippines lately

Eteny

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- astrobob on March 26, 2012 at 8:01 am said:
  
  Eteny,
  I hope it clears soon for you. I saw it last night and using a chart from the AAVSO estimated its magnitude at 13.1.
  
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mintaka77 on March 26, 2012 at 6:29 pm said:

Just adding some info to my last posting – possible probs are the poor seeing conditions- and my neighbour’s porch light behind the hedge. Oddly, I couldn’t split Algieba, either, with the 18mm eyepiece …

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- astrobob on March 26, 2012 at 7:00 pm said:
  
  Mintaka,
  Seeing can have a lot to do with it. Not being to split Algieba sounds like blurry stars and bad seeing. Keep trying and I’m certain you’ll spot it.
  
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Rami on June 2, 2012 at 8:39 am said:

Hi gays
I am Ramy Zainal from Iraq and i want your help to determine if there is a supergint star in the position of SN2012aw and if you have papers or website helping me in this subject.

Thanks to all

Rami

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- astrobob on June 2, 2012 at 9:00 am said:
  
  Hi Rami,
  It appears that an earlier image by the Hubble Space Telescope showed an 8-solar-mass red supergiant at the position of the supernova. Check this link out for more information:
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5zo5449wHU
  
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  - Rami on June 3, 2012 at 3:41 pm said:
    
    thanks bob the video was interesting and useful, but i have one more question if you dont mind, did the neutrino observatories observing neutrinos after the explosion of SN2012aw.
    
    thanks
    
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    - astrobob on June 3, 2012 at 3:48 pm said:
      
      Rami,
      I have not heard of any neutrino detections nor can find any references on the Net.
      
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      - Rami on June 3, 2012 at 8:19 pm said:
        
        thanks bob
      - astrobob on June 3, 2012 at 9:08 pm said:
        
        Rami,
        You’re welcome – wish I could do more.
Rami on June 15, 2012 at 3:11 pm said:

hello Bob

I sent u a message a bout the new supernova (sn2012aw), i want a physical properties of this supernova any information will help

Thanks
Rami

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- astrobob on June 15, 2012 at 3:16 pm said:
  
  Hi Rami,
  I thought I had replied to you earlier in the comments section with what I knew plus a youtube link. I believe the original supergiant star was 8 times more massive than the sun.
  
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  - Rami on June 16, 2012 at 3:41 pm said:
    
    Thank you very much Bob i really appreciate your help, thank you again.
    
    Reply ↓

Astro Bob

Celestial happenings you can see from your own backyard

Another bright supernova goes boom in M95 near Mars

37 thoughts on “Another bright supernova goes boom in M95 near Mars”

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