Hubble Monitors Supernova In Nearby Galaxy M82
Hubble Monitors Supernova In Nearby Galaxy M82


A new bright supernova exploded in the nearby galaxy M82 on 14 January this year. Its relatively short distance from Earth, together with the fact that the first observations were carried out only a few hours after the explosion, makes it in itself a very important astronomical object. It will allow scientists to study many aspects of these kinds of objects, which are considered highly important within cosmology.

Through the Hubble Space Telescope, Ariel Goobar and Rahman Amanullah from the Oskar Klein Centre at Stockholm University have been able to observe the supernova in ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths. Thanks to these measurements one can study the immediate surroundings of the supernova, an important part of the puzzle in understanding the progenitor system. Furthermore, the UV observations are critical to study what it is that absorbs some of the light in the line of sight in the interstellar medium of the host galaxy. This study will also have implications for the precision that can be obtained on the measurements of the properties of dark energy.
 
Ariel Goobar has, together with others collaborators, written a paper on the supernova explosion SN2014J, to be published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

Read more on the Oskar Klein blog:
http://okc.albanova.se/blog/hubble-space-telescope-images-galaxy-m82/