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Junior-Sized Supernova Discovered By New York Teen
Matt_dk writes "In November 2008, Caroline Moore, a 14-year-old student from upstate New York, discovered a supernova in a nearby galaxy, making her the youngest person ever to do so. Additional observations determined that the object, called SN 2008ha, is a new type of stellar explosion, 1000 times more powerful than a nova but 1000 times less powerful than a supernova. Astronomers say that it may be the weakest supernova ever seen."
Caroline! You have a flabby little girly supernova!
Yah! That's so weak!
Sorry, it just the duality of being the first to find something being classified as sub-par is funny in a schadenfreude-kinda way.
Still, I think it's great someone this young was able to participate and actually was able to contribute something like this to science.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
"If a normal supernova is a nuclear bomb, then SN 2008ha is a bunker buster..."
I find it kind of a sad statement on society that a scientist finds a comparison to weapons of war to be the best way to describe an event to people. It's a good analogy because it explains the situation well but it says a lot about society that that's the analogy-of-choice...