Astronomers Awaiting 1a Supernova

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Sunday July 23, 2006 @07:49AM from the really-excited-space-geeks dept.

Aryabhata writes to tell us BBC News is reporting that astronomers have sighted a star on the brink of a "1a" supernova. This opportunity presents the first chance astronomers have ever had to view a supernova of this magnitude up close. From the article: "They are so rare that the last one known in our galaxy was seen in 1572 by the great Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, who first coined the term nova, for "new star", not realizing he was in fact witnessing the violent end of an unknown star. It has long been believed that type 1a supernovae are the death throes of a white dwarf star. But all modern ones have been so distant that it has not been possible to see what had been there beforehand."

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Yay!!! We're All Gonna Die!!! by Slugster · 2006-07-23 08:14 · Score: 1, Redundant

Free microwave popcorn for everybody! (-no sense in dying hungry, I always say-)
"Soon" in Galactic Terms by Rob+Carr · 2006-07-23 08:15 · Score: 0, Redundant

From the Space.com article on the 19th of July:
The white dwarf in RS Ophiuchi is near this critical limit now, but it will still probably need hundreds of thousands of years to accumulate the final bit of mass, scientists say.
In other words: don't hold your breath.

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This sig seemed like a good idea at the time....
Re:Actually by pipingguy · 2006-07-23 12:30 · Score: 0, Redundant

It's RS Ophiuchi

Yeah, and I bet it was "discovered" by a bunch of white guys of European descent. Why can't we just name new discoveries like this what the natives actually call them?