Supernovae

Supernova SN 2014j in M 82

It was discovered in mid January 2014. The above juxtapposition shows two exposures (accidentally) taken in fall 2013 (left) and in spring 2014 (right), using the Maksutov-Newton telescope and the Canon EOS 1100Da. Owing to its very high star formation rate, the starburst galaxy M 82 also has a high supernova rate. With about 20 per 100 years it is about 10 times as high as in the (much larger) Milky Way, which merely produces 2 per 100 years. Supernovae can become as bright as an entire galaxy. SN 2014j was embedded in the central region of M 82, which contains a lot of dust and thus dimmed the supernova considerably. Yet it is rather conspicuous, even several weeks after its maximum brightness!