14 DAY TRIAL // Astronomers announced that a 10-year-old Canadian girl has just discovered a new supernova of an yet-unknown type, in an image snapped on December 31, 2010. The finding itself was made on January 2, 2011, on Sunday.
This discovery sets the record for the youngest ever astronomer to discover a new celestial body. Kathryn Aurora Gray lives in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and she was assisted in making the findings by astronomers Paul Gray and David Lane.
According to the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC), the new objective is called 2010lt, and is in fact a supernova with an apparent magnitude of 17. located in the galaxy UGC 3378 .
This galaxy can be found in the constellation of Camelopardalis, as reported on IAU Electronic Telegram 2618. The study was conducted from the Abbey Ridge Observatory (ARO).
The facility, which can be remote-controlled via the Internet from anywhere in the world, is located in England, and it focuses on observing variable stars (mainly Cepheids and suspected Cepheids) and bright open star clusters.
“Supernovae are stellar explosions that signal the violent deaths of stars several times more massive than our Sun,” RASC experts say in a press release detailing the discovery.
“Supernovae are interesting to astronomers because they manufacture most of the chemical elements that went into making the earth and other planets, and also because distant supernovas can be used to estimate the size and age of our Universe,” they add.
But these stellar explosions are very rare events. This is why it's very important to keep an eye on many galaxies at the same time. This can enable astronomers to boost their chances of seeing such a blast.
“A new supernova reveals itself as a bright point of light that wasn't there the last time the galaxy was checked,” the document goes on to say.
“Since a supernova can outshine millions of ordinary stars it is easy to spot with a modest telescope, even in a distant galaxy like UGC 3378 which is about 240 million light-years away,” experts add.
Soon after the announcement of SN 2010lt's discovery was made, the finding was confirmed by independent observations conducted from the Unites States.
As such, Kathryn Aurora Gray becomes the youngest person ever to discover a new supernova, Universe Today reports.