List of supernovae
Appearance
This is a list of supernovae that are of historical significance. These include supernovae that were observed prior to the availability of photography, and individual events that have been the subject of a scientific paper that contributed to supernova theory.
List
In most entries, the year when the supernova was seen is part of the designation (1st column).
Supernova designation (year) |
Constellation | Apparent magnitude |
Distance (light years) |
Type | Galaxy | Comments |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SN 185 | Centaurus | −4 (?) [1] | 8,200 | Ia (?) | Milky Way | Surviving description sketchy; modern estimates of maximum apparent magnitude vary from +4 to −8. The remnant is probably RCW 86, some 8200 ly distant,[2] making it comparable to SN 1572. Some researchers have suggested it was a comet, not a supernova.[3][4] |
SN 386 | Sagittarius | +1.5 | 14,700 | II | Milky Way | The candidate remnant is G11.2-0.3.[5][6] |
SN 393 | Scorpius | –0 | 34,000 | Milky Way | ||
SN 1006 | Lupus | –7.5[7] | 7,200 | Ia | Milky Way | Widely observed on Earth; in apparent magnitude, the brightest stellar event in recorded history.[8] |
SN 1054 | Taurus | –6 | 6,500 | II | Milky Way | Remnant is the Crab Nebula with its pulsar (neutron star) |
SN 1181 | Cassiopeia | 0 | 8,500 | Milky Way | ||
SN 1572 | Cassiopeia | –4.0 | 8,000 | Ia | Milky Way | Tycho's Nova |
SN 1604 | Ophiuchus | –3 | 14,000 | Ia | Milky Way | Kepler's Star; most recent readily visible supernova within the Milky Way |
Cas A, ca. 1680 |
Cassiopeia | +5 | 9,000 | IIb | Milky Way | Apparently never visually conspicuous, due to interstellar dust; but the remnant, Cas A, is the brightest extrasolar radio source in the sky |
SNR G1.9+0.3, ca. 1868 |
Sagittarius | 25,000 | Milky Way | "Posthumously" discovered in 1985; age determined in 2008 | ||
SN 1885A | Andromeda | +7 | 2,400,000 | Ipec | Andromeda Galaxy | First observation of an extragalactic supernova |
SN 1895B | Centaurus | +8.0[9] | 10,900,000 | NGC 5253 | ||
SN 1937C | +8.4[9] | 13,000,000 | Ia | IC 4182 | ||
SN 1940B | Coma Berenices | +12.8 | 38,000,000 | II-P | NGC 4725 | |
SN 1961V | Perseus | +12.5 | 30,000,000 | II? | NGC 1058 | Potential supernova impostor[10] |
SN 1972E | Centaurus | +8.7 [11] | 10,900,000 | Ia | NGC 5253 | Followed for more than a year; became the prototypical Type Ia supernova |
SN 1983N | Hydra | +11.8 | 15,000,000 | Ib | Messier 83 | First observation of a Type Ib supernova |
SN 1986J | Andromeda | +18.4 | 30,000,000 | IIn | NGC 891 | Bright in the radio frequency range |
SN 1987A | Dorado | +2.9 | 160,000 | IIpec | Large Magellanic Cloud | Intense radiation reached Earth on February 23, 1987, 7:35:35 UT. Notable for archival photos of progenitor star and detection of supernova neutrinos. Most recent Local Group supernova |
SN 1993J | Ursa Major | +10.8 | 11,000,000 | IIb | M81 | One of the brightest supernovae in the northern sky since 1954 |
SN 1994D | Virgo | +15.2 | 50,000,000 | Ia | NGC 4526 | |
SN 2002bj | Lupus | +14.7 | 160,000,000 | Ia | NGC 1821 | AM Canum Venaticorum-type outburst.[12] |
SN 2003fg | Boötes | 4,000,000,000 | Ia | anonymous galaxy | Also known as the "Champagne supernova" | |
SN 2004dj | Camelopardalis | 8,000,000 | Ia (SAB) | NGC 2403 | NGC 2403 is an outlying member of the M81 Group | |
SN 2005ap | Coma Berenices | 4,700,000,000 | II | ? | Announced in 2007 to be the brightest supernova up to that point. | |
SN 2005gj | 865,000,000 | Ia/II-n | ? | Notable for having characteristics of both Type Ia and Type IIn. | ||
SN 2005gl | Pisces | +16.5 | 200,000,000 | II-n | NGC 266 | Star could be found on old pictures.[13] |
SN 2006gy | Perseus | +15 | 240,000,000 | IIn (*) | NGC 1260 | Observed by NASA, *with a peak of over 70 days, possibly a new type. |
SN 2007bi | Virgo | +18.3 | Ic? | anonymous dwarf galaxy | Extremely bright and long-lasting, the first good observational match for the pair-instability supernova model postulated for stars of initial mass greater than 140 solar masses (even better than SN 2006gy). The precursor is estimated at 200 solar masses, similar to the first stars of the early universe.[14] | |
SN 2008D | Lynx | 88,000,000 | Ibc | NGC 2770 | First supernova to be observed while it exploded. | |
MENeaC Abell399.3.14.0 | Aries | +28.7 | 1,000,000,000 (z=0.0613) |
Ia | anonymous red globular cluster associated with anonymous red elliptical galaxy in cluster Abell 399 | Observed in 2009. First type Ia supernova associated with a globular cluster [15][16] |
SN 2011fe | Ursa Major | +10.0 | 21,000,000 | Ia | M101 | One of the very few extragalactic supernovae visible in 50mm binoculars. |
SN 2014J | Ursa Major | +10.5 | 11,500,000 | Ia | M82 | Closest supernova since SN 2004dj in NGC 2403. |
ASAS-SN-15lh SN 2015L | Indus | +16.9 | 3,800,000,000 | Ic | APMUKS(BJ) B215839.70−615403.9 | Most luminous supernova ever observed. |
References
- ^ Modern estimates vary widely; see SN 185 for more detail.
- ^ "New evidence links stellar remains to oldest recorded supernova" Chandra X-ray Observatory, released 2006-09-18, revised 2009-02-20, retrieved 2010-02-26.
- ^ Chin YN, Huang YL. "Identification of the Guest Star of AD 185 as a comet rather than a supernova".
- ^ Zhao FY, Strom RG, Jiang SY (2006). "The Guest Star of AD185 Must Have Been a Supernova". Chinese J Astron Astrophys. 6 (5): 635–40. Bibcode:2006ChJAA...6..635Z. doi:10.1088/1009-9271/6/5/17.
- ^ SEDS. "Supernova 386".
- ^ National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). "The Supernova of 386 AD".
- ^ Winkler, P. Frank; Gupta, Gaurav; Long, Knox S. (2003). "The SN 1006 Remnant: Optical Proper Motions, Deep Imaging, Distance, and Brightness at Maximum". The Astrophysical Journal. 585 (1): 324–335. arXiv:astro-ph/0208415. Bibcode:2003ApJ...585..324W. doi:10.1086/345985.
- ^ "Astronomers Peg Brightness of History's Brightest Star" (Press release). National Optical Astronomy Observatory. 2003-03-05. Retrieved 2009-01-12.
- ^ a b http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/lists/Supernovae.html
- ^ Voisey, Jon (5 November 2010). "What was SN 1961V?". Universe Today. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
- ^ Ardeberg, A.; de Groot, M. (1973). "The 1972 supernova in NGC 5253. Photometric results from the first observing season". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 28: 295–304. Bibcode:1973A&A....28..295A.
- ^ Sanders, Robert. "Rapid supernova could be new class of exploding star". UC Newsroom. University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved 2009-11-06.
- ^ David Bishop. "Supernova 2005gl in NGC 266". Rochester Academy of Science. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
- ^ Science Daily, "Superbright Supernova Is First of Its Kind", 5 December 2009 (accessed 2009-12-15)
- ^ Melissa L. Graham; David J. Sand; Dennis Zaritsky; Chris J. Pritchet (13 May 2015). "Confirmation of Hostless Type Ia Supernovae Using Hubble Space Telescope Imaging". The Astrophysical Journal. 807: 83. arXiv:1505.03407. Bibcode:2015ApJ...807...83G. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/807/1/83.
- ^ Robert Sanders (4 June 2015). "Exiled stars explode far from home". UC Berkeley News Center.
Further reading
- Green, David A. (2015). Orchiston, Wayne; Green, David A.; Strom, Richard (eds.). Historical Supernova Explosions in Our Galaxy and Their Remnants. New Insights From Recent Studies in Historical Astronomy: Following in the Footsteps of F. Richard Stephenson, Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings. Vol. 43. Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. pp. 91–100. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-07614-0_7. ISBN 978-3-319-07613-3.