New supernova right next door in M82

[Dragan]

A new supernova has been observed in M82. Its a Type Ia and has already reached 11.7 at the time of my posting. Should make for some interesting observations and science in the coming days!


http://www.universetoday.com/108386/bright-new-supernova-blows-up-in-nearby-m82-the-cigar-galaxy/

http://arstechnica.com/science/2014/01/astronomers-rush-to-study-new-nearby-supernova/

[Ivan Maly]

Or months, if you are in Western New York. Endless clouds. There is hope this one will remain bright enough all season though. The SN is in an interesting location visually, in a small star cloud that forms (for me at least) the sharp NW corner of the central bright spot in the galaxy, and next to a super-star-cluster. My last observation was almost two years ago (link (http://idle-stargazer.blogspot.com/2012/08/clusters-in-m82.html)). Now would be a wonderful time to make a new and hopefully more detailed one.

[Dragan]

I managed to get out tonight to take a look for SN2014J. Admittedly, it was just too cold to take the time and set up the 25. So I proceeded to use my stock XT8 with various EP's and an LPR filter. Finding the field in my light polluted skies with high very thin cirrus took longer than I liked in the sub zero temps, but once I did, I was able to identify what was amiss.

At 92x M82 almost looked to me to have 2 cores. Higher power (120x and then 150x improved my already marginal views only slightly. The SN is definitely bright and apparent. I can't say for sure but I'd guess it was approximately the same brightness as a couple of the triangle asterism stars to the north in the same field. 8th-9th mag maybe?? Do others agree or am I off base here? (as I was getting dressed to go out, I really was hoping to sketch this as my first "at EP" sketch, but it was just too cold)

Here's a couple of pics. As you can see, its cold!! I'm just glad I got out to see it. Last night would have been better as we didn't have the cirrus overhead but an early morning appointment today wouldn't allow for it.
So I took advantage of tonight and was rewarded.

10691070

[Astrojensen]

By some sort of miracle, it cleared partially here yesterday evening, around 10.30 PM. I immediately set up my 63mm Zeiss Telemator, to take a look at the SN through the sucker holes. I found the field at once in the 30mm ES82 (28x, 3° field), but could not see the supernova. Increasing the magnification to 47x with an 18mm ES82 brought glimpses of it, but it was not clearly visible until I hit 76x with my 11mm ES82. It was even better at 95x (8.8mm ES82) and best at 93x with the 9mm ES100.

With this magnification, I could hold it steady with averted vision, along with several clumps and dust bands across the galaxy. A fine view it was! I was frequently interrupted by clouds, but being patient was rewarded with multiple fine views.

After spending some time with M82 and its supernova, I went back down to 28x with the 30mm ES82 and just enjoyed the sight of seeing M81 and M82 floating together in space, along with their tiny companions NGC 3077 and NGC 2976. M81 was unusually large and went way past the two stars at the root of the spiral arm opposite M82 and at one point, I had a distinct feeling that there was a super-vague hint of spiral arms. Alas, it just remained a vague hint, nothing more.

I also briefly looked at M97 and M108 in the 30mm ES82, as well as M42. In the 11mm ES82, M42 began to show some really interesting details, but again, I was interrupted by clouds. The trapezium stars were extremely sharp, so the seeing was unusually good. Jupiter was almost etched in the 9mm ES100 and I could glimpse some hints of festoons in the equatorial zone. A darn shame I had to call it a night around midnight, but it was super cold and I had to go to work by 4.30 AM next morning, so I had to call it a night.


Clear skies!
Thomas, Denmark

[Dragan]

By some sort of miracle, it cleared partially here yesterday evening, around 10.30 PM. I immediately set up my 63mm Zeiss Telemator, to take a look at the SN through the sucker holes. I found the field at once in the 30mm ES82 (28x, 3° field), but could not see the supernova. Increasing the magnification to 47x with an 18mm ES82 brought glimpses of it, but it was not clearly visible until I hit 76x with my 11mm ES82. It was even better at 95x (8.8mm ES82) and best at 93x with the 9mm ES100.

With this magnification, I could hold it steady with averted vision, along with several clumps and dust bands across the galaxy. A fine view it was! I was frequently interrupted by clouds, but being patient was rewarded with multiple fine views.

After spending some time with M82 and its supernova, I went back down to 28x with the 30mm ES82 and just enjoyed the sight of seeing M81 and M82 floating together in space, along with their tiny companions NGC 3077 and NGC 2976. M81 was unusually large and went way past the two stars at the root of the spiral arm opposite M82 and at one point, I had a distinct feeling that there was a super-vague hint of spiral arms. Alas, it just remained a vague hint, nothing more.

I also briefly looked at M97 and M108 in the 30mm ES82, as well as M42. In the 11mm ES82, M42 began to show some really interesting details, but again, I was interrupted by clouds. The trapezium stars were extremely sharp, so the seeing was unusually good. Jupiter was almost etched in the 9mm ES100 and I could glimpse some hints of festoons in the equatorial zone. A darn shame I had to call it a night around midnight, but it was super cold and I had to go to work by 4.30 AM next morning, so I had to call it a night.


Clear skies!
Thomas, Denmark

Thomas,

What would you place its magnitude at? Am I correct in guessing its magnitude or was I bit over zealous in my estimation?

[Howard B]

I was able to see SN2014J last night with my 28 inch under pretty decent skies. It's like an extra jewel in an already beautiful crown, and it should enhance M82 even more as it brightens. I added the SN to a previous scan of an old M82 sketch that was made under excellent seeing and using magnifications up to 812x. The SQM was 21.30 during this February 2011 sketch, about what it was last night.

1071 1072

I didn't notice any color to the SN, and maybe the poor seeing last night masked any color that was there, but I'll check again tonight and hopefully the seeing will be steadier. Regardless, what a treat!

January 29, 2014 update: I had excellent seeing on the night of January 25th and still did not detect any color to SN2014J. However, the view of M82 up to 700x was spectacular!

[Astrojensen]

Thomas,

What would you place its magnitude at? Am I correct in guessing its magnitude or was I bit over zealous in my estimation?

I would say it's around mag 11, possibly a little fainter. The bright background of the galaxy makes an estimate tricky and it probably appears fainter than it is, photometrically.

Partially cloudy tonight as well, but hasn't been out. It's windy and extremely cold.


Clear skies!
Thomas, Denmark

[Dragan]

Hey Thomas,

I'm going to have to agree with you. After doing some hunting I figured I just had to be a bit too optimistic in my original estimation. :o

[RolandosCY]

Here is my rendering of SN2014J, as sketched last Thursday evening from my new observing site (my new home!)... The SN was very easy in a friend's 8" dob and it certainly stood out in my 18"...
1075

[Vic]

Hi!
I estimated SN2014J yesterday as 10.7 mag using my 16" f/5 at 110×. It should still brighten a bit more within a week.
You can also try two more supernovae:
SN2014C in NGC 7331 (http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/sn2014/sn2014c.html) (~15.2 mag)
and
SN2014G in NGC 3448 (http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/sn2014/sn2014g.html) in UMa (~14.3 mag).
Vic

[Ivan Maly]

I observed M82 this week from Cherry Springs in excellent transparency (dewpoint -23 C). The seeing was bad and there were no starlike points in regions A and F (nomenclature of O'Connell and Mangano, 1978) that I had seen before. 12" LX200GPS, 125-375x with Pentax 8-24. Here the sketch is rotated and flipped; N is roughly up and W roughly right.

http://www.cloudynights.com/photopost/data/500/373292014-01-28_sn2014J_in_M82.jpg

[skyraider]

Myself and another Chesmont Astronomical Society member, Karl Krasley, finally had a chance to observe the supernova in M82 the evening of 1-29-2014 with my 25”f4 Obsession from a local dark site. We observed it through my 17, 13, and 8 Ethos with Paracorr Type 2, and also with my Denk II Binoviewers (21mm Denk eyepieces). I think the binoviewers at medium power, and the 17 and13 Ethos gave the best overall views. We concluded the field star off to the right of the galaxy seemed a little brighter than the supernova, but then took into account the fact that the galaxy itself probably made the embedded supernova appear dimmer than it actually was. So we concluded that the field star and the supernova were about the same magnitude. The other thing I noticed right away, which Karl confirmed before I even said anything to him, was that the supernova had a orange glow to it. This was especially obvious when the color of the supernova was compared to the color of the bright nearby field star. To me the color was very striking, almost like superimposing a highly magnified Alberio over M82. It was an absolutely beautiful view. Like looking at a beautiful picture (the supernova) in a beautiful frame (the galaxy). It was absolutely spectacular!!