Steve’s Virtual Planet

S.V.P. Star News - Supernova SN2014J

There is a lot of excitement surrounding the supernova event in M82. It was discovered on January 21st by the University College of London during a training session with graduate students. The actual event probably occurred around the 15th of January. Known as Supernova SN2014J, the exploding star is “only” 12 million light years away and is thus easily viewable from a moderate sized telescope in a fairly dark sky. As I posted a couple of days ago, it is viewable even from the suburbs with a big enough scope.

So far, there aren’t too many articles on the web for SN2014J but we do know it’s a Type 1A HV supernova, the result of an exploding white dwarf star in the Galaxy M82. I’ve dropped in a few links here with some decent introductions into this object and Supernovae in general.

I’ll keep my eyes peeled for any science bulletins that get into the details of this object. But for now, check these links out.

Introduction from Phil Plaitt

Article from Astro Bob

Sky & Telescope SN2014J viewing guide