Supernovae are par excellence one of the most amazing astronomical events. These occur when a star runs out of fuel and decides to put an end to its evolution with a gigantic cosmic explosion.
These gigantic explosions known as supernovae are not very common, since it is estimated that every century there are one or two events of this type in each galaxy.
Therefore, discovering one of these events in a distant galaxy is considered quite a feat, just as it did Koichi Itagaki, a 75-year-old Japanese amateur astronomer who discovered a bright spot on the galaxy messier 101 known as a pinwheel galaxy.
It is located about 21 million light years from our galaxy the Milky Way. Messier 101 hosts a Type II supernova that has been named “SN 2023ixf”.
As reported by NASA, this supernova was discovered on May 19 and is considered the closest supernova to Earth discovered in the last five years, the second closest found in the last 10 years and the second supernova identified within the same galaxy. Messier 101 in the last 15 years.
It is estimated that this star exploded 21 million years ago, as it is the time that the light generated by the Supernova needed to reach our planet.
How to find the galaxy Messier 101?
Due to the proximity of this galaxy, it is possible to observe the supernova with a conventional telescope with a good range. The best time to observe the object is around midnight.
Messier 101 is easy to locate by finding the first star (eta) in the asteism handle of the Big Dipper. This is located at almost exactly the same distance to the north as the distance between eta and the second star in the wizard zeta.
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