Supernova 2005cs in M51
- From: "Stupendous_Man" <mwrsps@xxxxxxx>
- Date: 30 Jun 2005 07:28:02 -0700
German astronomer Wolfgang Kloehr has reported a
supernova in M51, based on images taken in the
past week (June 22-28, 2005). The object appears
roughly 15 arcseconds west and 67 arcseconds
south of the nucleus. Several other observers
have confirmed that an object appears at this
position but not on standard charts.
This will likely be one of the brightest
supernovae of the decade. The last time a
supernovae occurred in M51 was in 1994;
that event, SN 1994I, reached a peak V-band
magnitude of 12.9. If the new supernova
is a type Ia explosion, rather than a type
Ic event like SN 1994I, it might become a
magnitude or so brighter.
Back in 1994, I asked amateur astronomers
for any images of M51 taken just before the
supernova was discovered. Several observers
provided pre-discovery images which gave us
the earliest measurements of supernova's
brightness -- which, in turn, are very
valuable in understanding the evolution
of supernovae. A paper describing some of
these early measurements by amateurs was
published in the "Astronomical Journal",
volume 111, p. 327 (1996). You can find a copy
at
http://stupendous.rit.edu/richmond/94i_preprint.ps
Let me ask the community once again to check
for any images you might have taken of M51
between June 15 and June 30, 2005. If you
make a copy of such images available to me,
I would be happy to check them over for the
presence of the supernova, and do my best to
measure its brightness. I'll even try to
convert the data onto one of the standard
magnitude scales so that it might be
incorporated into a proper study. If you
are interested, please contact me at
mwrsps@xxxxxxx and
include as much information about your
image(s) as you can: time, date, instrument,
filters, exposure times, limiting
magnitude, FWHM, etc.
And, of course, please watch this event
as it unfolds over the next few months!
Michael Richmond
.
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