“Newly Discovered Supernova in Pinwheel Galaxy: SN 2023ixf”

There is a supernova or exploding star in the Pinwheel galaxy aka M101 which is only 21 million light years from Earth!

This is the closest supernova detected in the last decade. Cool again, this new supernova was discovered by an amateur astronomer from his home observatory. Previously, type Ia supernovaeSN 2011fe was also discovered in the Windmill Galaxy in 2011.

Supernova named SN 2023ixf was discovered by veteran amateur astronomer Koichi Itagaki from his private observatory in Yamagata, Japan, on May 19, 2023. Immediately after this discovery, both astronomers and amateur astronomers directed their telescopes to observe the new supernova, which at the time was found to have a brightness of 18 magnitude and continue to increase. After several days, observers reported the brightness of SN 2023ixf was currently 14.9 magnitude.

Astronomers estimate that the brightness of SN 2023ixf will still increase in a few days to the 12-13th magnitude range and can be observed by small telescopes for several months as a point of light. But for now, it would take a telescope with a magnitude 15 limit to see the starbursts in the Windmill galaxy.

Light from the past

SN 2023ixf was photographed by Tiffany Fields of the Burke Gaffney Observatory, Saint Mary University. Source: Grant Tremblay/Twitter

SN 2023ixf was only discovered on May 19 2023, and observations a week earlier on May 12 2023 did not show any increase in this brightness. Even if it happened recently or was recently observed, these explosions have occurred in the past. From the distance of the Windmill Galaxy to Earth, light takes 21 million light years to arrive. That means this explosion occurred 21 million years ago, when light from SN 2023ixf first left the exploding star.

SN 2023ixf is categorized as a Type II Supernova which occurs when the star’s center collapses at the end of its life. Astronomers do divide supernovas into several types. There is a type Ia which is a star explosion in a multiple star system with one of the pairs being a white dwarf. But there are also Type Ib, Ic, and Type two Supernovae, which are known as supernovae of stellar core collapse.

Supernova type. Credit: skysouth

Type II supernovae can be identified by their spectra, which still show the presence of hydrogen and helium.

Thus, stars that end in a Type II Supernova explosion still retain their hydrogen and helium envelopes when the star explodes. Unlike the type Ib supernova, which explodes with only a helium shell, the star has lost its previous hydrogen shell. Whereas in a Type Ic Supernova, the star explodes without an envelope because both the hydrogen and helium shells have been lost first.

From the results of the analysis, astronomers suspect that the forerunner star of SN 2023ixf is a red supergiant star with a mass of about 15 solar masses.

Windmill Galaxy

SN 2023ixf is in the Windmill Galaxy which is in the direction of the constellation Ursa Mayoris, to be precise at the handle of the Big Dipper aka Big Dipper, two degrees north of the star Alkaid. The Windmill Galaxy discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1781 has a brightness of 7.9 magnitude so it is easy to observe and of course a target for observation by amateur astronomers.

The Windmill Galaxy is a spiral galaxy with a size of about 170,000 light years or nearly twice the size of the Milky Way. This Windmill Galaxy is inhabited by about one trillion stars with spiral arms inhabited by nebulae which are troughs for the birth of stars. In nebulae, star formation occurs intensely in molecular hydrogen clouds. Along the spiral arms of the Windmill cluster are young star clusters that are home to hot, newborn stars.

Cool Facts:

Although SN 2023ixf is close on an astronomical scale, this supernova will not have any impact on Earth. In order for a star explosion to affect Earth, the supernova must occur within 50 million light years!

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