A supernova isn’t the sort of thing you’d really want going off anywhere nearby. But they’re a lot of fun to see from your own backyard. This spring, we’ve been treated to several bright supernovas (or supernovae, abbreviated SNe) conveniently placed for the most part high overhead in the evening sky. In fact, the brightest supernova the last five years is currently easily visible in the spiral M96 in Leo at about 12th magnitude.

Supernova 1998bu in M96 (NGC 3368) is visible directly above (1' north) of the nucleus in this negative, 15' x 11' image, adjusted to show the supernova as well as hints of the galaxy's structure. This Sa-type spiral galaxy is a member of the Leo Cluster along with the nearby M95, M65, M66 and M105 galaxies, all about 30 million light years away. The supernova is near the edge of the tightly wound arms, and well within the faint halo 6' across. A dark lane is visible to the W. A companion galaxy lies 4' to the SSW. The total magnitude of the galaxy is 9.2, while the supernova is close in brightness to, if not a bit brighter than, the 13th magnitude stars, together forming a diagonal line across the field. I took this from my backyard with my 8" (20 cm) LX3 at f/6.3. The image is the sum of six, 60s integrations with a Cookbook 245 CCD camera taken about 23h EDT on 18 May 1998. Image calibration (dark subtraction and flat fielding), log scaling and contrast were accomplished with MIRA 4.50. I'm hoping that a negative images will photocopy well, but don't hesitate to ask me to see the original.

The other bright SNe seen from my backyard this spring are SN1998S in NGC 3877 and '98aq in NGC 3982, both in Ursa Major near the Big Dipper, '98bn in NGC 4462 in Corvus, and '98bp in NGC 6495 in Hercules. Images and finder charts are available through the links below.

Many SNe occur each year, but only a fraction is readily seen in amateur telescopes. Nowadays, most are discovered as part of search programs using automated telescopes and computerized image processing and detection. There is still a dedicated cadre of supernova-hunting amateurs who have memorized the appearance of hundreds or thousands of galaxies. They look and examine each galaxy for ten to fifteen seconds, recognizing immedately any new star. As long as there are cloudy nights, visual hunters will be able to compete with robots for supernovae. It remains a source of immense frustration to astronomers--amateurs and professionals, alike--that no supernova in our galaxy has exploded and been seen since the invention of the telescope! Astronomers would be thrilled to see a supernova go off right in our backyard.

Books, Charts and Web Links:

• William Liller's The Cambridge Guide to Astronomical Discovery, Cambridge University Press (1992).
• G.D. Thompson and J. Bryan, Jr.'s Supernova Search Charts Handbook, Cambridge University Press (1989).
• David Bishop's Supernovae in NGC and IC Galaxies http://www.ggw.org/asras/supernova.html. Highlighting those supernovae visible in amateur scopes and CCD's, this is my first stop for finding out what's up. Jump to IAU Circulars, professional and amateur images and many more useful links. Highly recommended.
• International Supernovae Network http://www.supernovae.org/isn.htm. News, infornation and the latest discoveries.
• The Astronomer magazine's Novae and Supernovae page http://www.demon.co.uk/astronomer/novae.html.Images and other information.
• Robert Cumming's Supernova Page http://www.astro.su.se/~robert/SN/
• Harvard's Recent Supernovae Page http://oir-www.harvard.edu/cfa/oir/Research/supernova/RecentSN.html. A Partial List of SNe Studied by the CfA SN Group, with links to light curves, images and spectra.
• AAVSO Supernova Search Manualhttp://www.aavso.org/committees/snman/contents.html
• International Astronomical Union's List of Recent Supernovae http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/ps/lists/RecentSupernovae.html, plus a link to a list of all supernovae.