Last November, a star of 8 to 45 solar masses exploded in the galaxy NGC 2146 in the constellation Camelopardalis. This happened around 46 million light years away from us. The galaxy is speeding away from us at almost 1,000 kilometers per second due to the expansion of the universe. Our youngest colleagues Liam Krebs and Thore Reissig (both 13 years old) captured this event with a telescope from our school lab with an exposure time of 20 minutes. Such so-called supernovae typically appear in the spiral arms of their home galaxy, which is confirmed by Liam and Thore, as the contrast-enhanced image section shows. We “oldtimers” congratulate them on this special success.
Photo: Liam Krebs & Thore Reissig. Text: Thomas Eversberg
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