Bright Supernova in NGC7637

[PeterM]

Hot off the press (again, I know) for IIS members.

Stu Parker from New Zealand (a member of the BOSS team) has discovered a possible Supernova in the far Southern galaxy NGC7637. This is Stu's 24th and the 32nd for the BOSS team. At magnitude 14.5 it is well worth chasing up visually and should be a nice galaxy for IIS Astro imagers.

Cloud has kept Stu's observatory closed pretty much most of this year, but last night he managed to get 30 images in and yup he got lucky (again).

Thanks also to Roger Groom who was able to supply an additional confirmation image very quickly and to Greg Bock who posted the discovery on the IAU's TOCP (Transient Objects Confirmation Page) and sent the discovery data to CBAT.

The galaxy is approximately 170 million light years distant and the SN appears to be of interest to our professional contacts at Las Campanas observatory in Chile who were hoping to get a spectra in today From this we should soon know what type of SN this is. And of course we will keep you updated.

Congratulations again to Stu, who is again clouded and rained in.
This hobby never ceases to amaze and surprise me, hope the BOSS successes inspire others here.

More info below.
PeterM

http://www.rochesterastronomy.org/snimages/

PSN J23255963-8154333, CBAT TOCP discovered 2012/02/21.390 by Stu Parker (BOSS)
Found in NGC 7637 at R.A. = 23h25m59s.63, Decl. = -81°54'33".3
Located 58" west and 8" north of the center of NGC 7637
Mag 14.6:2/21, Type unknown (References SN 1992ao)

[CometGuy]

32nd aye Nicely done guys!

Terry

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Hi, Peter.

Congrats to Stu Parker and the team.

Managed to image the supernova in NGC 7637 tonight.
I had to a 2x barlow to get enough resolution.
I'm still waiting on my auto guider, so tracking is not the best especially that close to the pole.

Equipement.

8" f/4 reflector on HEQ5 mount.
Camera 1100D.
10 x 90 sec exp ISO 6400.

Cheers,
Justin.

[Greg Bock]

HI All,

Stu's new discovery has been announced by the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams (CBAT) as SN2012ah. It's a Type 1a.

Congratulations Stu, and thanks to Roger for a confirmation image.
This is Stu's 24th, and 32 for BOSS.

This was a lucky find for Stu, as it rained within an hour or 2 of the discovery image being taken..

[Suzy]

Another one?
So soon????
AGAIN??????????????

Aye! How many different ways get my congratulatory post sound refreshing and new :question: :lol:

Sorry guys, couldn't resist, jokes aside....

Congratulations Stu and the BOSS team, so very proud to have fellow Brisbane members (and Stu in NZ of course) headlining the world with such great discoveries and successes. I say to people, yep, I know them. :lol:

Now, am I going to be back here again in 2 weeks doing another congratulatory post? :P :rofl:
Ooops resistance was still futile. :face:

[Park123]

Hi All
Here is the first unprocessed image of the new SN in NGC7637.
Great work from Greg again well done. As he said very lucky- cloud and rain came in very shortly after I got the conformation image.
This is the first one for the year for me after a very bad spell of bad weather let’s hope for better soon. I really like this galaxy it was the first one I imaged when I started my SN search programme 3 years ago. It is very near the pole
This galaxy is about 170mly away so pretty close. The SN is about at max light.
Keep the images coming they are great.

Stu ;)

[jjjnettie]

:D Congratulations.....again.
Well done Stu. :)

[CometGuy]

and CBET 3028 seals the deal...

[gary]

Congratulations to Stu and the BOSS team.

Armed with the image, will try to spot it visually in the 30" tonight at Coonabarrabran.

[Greg Bock]

Good Luck Gary,
looks like the weather here in SE Qld will be hopelessly cloudy and wet, yet again....grrrr

[Greg Bock]

Hi Suzy and all,
yes, it has only been a couple of weeks, and of course, the BOSS team is doing its best to get as many as possible, so we will hopefully see many more in the future, if only the weather will let us.

And of course, please don't feel that you have to offer new and refreshing congrats every time either, we only post the new discoveries to keep IIS'ers up to date of our progress.

And also, yes again to your last question, with luck, you will be back again here very soon when one if us gets anotherie. (I hope it's me..I hope it's me..!!)

[PeterM]

Suzy your comments and support are much appreciated as are all the others we get. IIS is a great support for what we do and that's why we post here pretty much within a few hours of discovery. Especially the ones that amateurs can potentially see visually, but also the fainter ones in nice looking galaxies that the excellent imagers here can do them better justice.

And likewise we can say "we know Suzy" she often comes into Sirius Optics where Greg and I work on Saturdays.

PeterM.

[gary]

Thanks Greg,

Sydney has also had terrible wet weather as well all this month, but thankfully
today is as cloudless and sunny as one could hope for. The weather in
Coonabarabran is forecast tonight to be "mostly clear" so I hope we will
get lucky and be able to make the observation of NGC7637 and report here.

Alas, whilst watching this morning's weather report I saw the description that
the area of cloudy and wet weather was set to contact today from northern NSW
into your part of the world in S.E Qld.

Ron called earlier today saying he will make the trip down to Sydney this weekend.
With a forecast of "mostly sunny", he picked the right weekend so far this year
to come down.

[Suzy]

:lol: I walked into Sirius Optics one day to buy my 10" dobbie but ALL I wanted to know was "tell me who the supernova chaser is that works here because I read it in Sky & Telescope" :lol::lol: Turned out to be Peter who I asked :lol: Embarrass emoticon for rockstar excitment right in the face of person (Peter) I was asking ----> :ashamed: :rofl:


I really want to try and take a look at this (weather permitting), and Ron isn't here at the moment to ask, so someone needs to fill his shoes for 10 days. :P
I've never seen an SN thru a scope and I so desperately want to, I'm even armed with my new Stellaview finder to help me. :D:thumbsup:

Looking at Starry Nights where it lays in the constellation of Octans, sitting at it's highest (from Brisbane) at 39 deg at 9pm, it looks fairly easy to nab and I have a good view to the south.

That mag. worries me tho and it's so far away- will I see this galaxy thru my 10" dob from home?

How long is it expected to stay bright for?

Thanks guys :)


I like to. ;):)

... and at the time (end of last year), you were on a hat trick too. :tasdevil:

[tilbrook@rbe.ne]

Hi,

Here's SN2012ah for 24-02-12.
I didn't use a 2 x barlow for this image, and I 'm still waiting for my autoguider!!

Cheers,

Justin.

[Paddy]

Congratulations Stu and BOSS yet again! Hope to get a look at it tonight.

[gary]

Viewed the SN visually on Sat 25th Feb at approx. 02:00 AEDT from Coonabarabran,
NSW under clear skies and average seeing.

First attempted to view it through a 18" f/4.5 Dob equipped with Argo Navis
and though the galaxy was visible, there was no way that one could spot the
SN visually.

Switched to the 30" f/4.6 Dob and first using a 26mm Tele Vue eyepiece the SN
could be seen through averted vision.

Then switched to a 12mm Tele Vue eyepiece in the 30" and the SN became
self evident without averted vision.

I had printed an inverted version of the image posted by Stu which I used as a
finder chart to identify the SN. Andrew Murrell verified the observation.

Though I did not try to locate it in one of the 25" or 20" Dobs, my feeling was
that it would likely be possible in a 25" with the right magnification eyepiece
so as to frame the galaxy but probably very challenging in a 20" at the zenith
distance we observed it at.

So sorry Suzy, I think it would take a miracle to spot it visually through a 10"
and given the moist air conditions we have been enduring on the east coast
probably tough going in anything less than a 25" at an equivalent zenith distance.

Once again, congratulations to Stu and the BOSS team.

Best Regards

Gary Kopff

[Park123]

Hi Gary
This is fantastic thanks for posting your visual observation .I really should try to look visually as well. Except 1987A I have never seen a SN with the eye that is pretty cool.Well done!!!:eyepop::thumbsup:
Here is another image taken last night but the seeing was very poor and fog and cloud effected things.
Stu

[Park123]

Hi Suzy and all
Just to reinforce Petes and Gregs comments. Thankyou all for your great wishes and congrats on our new discoveries over the past years but please don't feel that you have to offer new congrats every time as the guys say anything that is bright we will post here to give everybody who is interested a chance to image or have a go visually. Remember these things aren’t around for long and you will never see that one again you will be 1 of only a few in the world to observed it.
I do however really enjoy hearing from everybody and will continue to search as soon as this dam weather clears(sorry Greg I hope I am next!!!)
All the best
Stu

[gary]

Thanks Stu,

I will tell you now it really made my weekend. :thumbsup:

Firstly, we were lucky there had been a few days break in the weather.

It was a six and a half hour drive from Sydney up there at night and a six and a half hour
drive back the following day and I was very much hoping that we would be able to eyeball it.
So it was very exciting when I spotted it in the 30". I handed over the finder chart to
Andrew, he counted off stars went back and forth between the chart and eyepiece
and exclaimed, "That it!". When we plonked in the 12mm it was bright enough to
be obvious and to allow us to soak it in. Fantastic!

I wish you could have been there to see it as I am sure it would have given
you a big "wow!".

Thanks for posting the before/after images.

170 million ly to get here, eh? Amazing. :eyepop:

Best Regards

Gary Kopff

[Greg Bock]

Great story about seeing the SN in the 30" Gary, thanks.
That's a big effort to see it, but I'm sure it was worth it.

[Suzy]

Thanks for the great report Gary.
Oh well... I'm sure there will be one soon enough that I can get thru my 10" dob, the rate the BOSS team are onto them! :lol: