Category 4,  Topic 4
Message 125       Thu Apr 01, 1993
ODY [Greg W-C]               at 23:28 EST
 
  SUPERNOVA 1993J in M81, a galaxy in Ursa Major, was discovered by
 F. Garcia, a Spanish amateur astronomer on March 28. The object has
 brightened two magnitudes since discovery, and is currently about
 mag. 10. If it is a Type II supernova, as seems likely, it will
 continue to brighten for another week or so. By then, it could be
 as bright as mag 8.

There are two GIFs which should aid in identifying the object when
 viewed with a telescope. The GIFs are in Library #4: SN1993J.GIF
 (file 2919) and SN1993KB.GIF (2927). The supernova forms a triangle
 with stars A and B at the southern end of the galaxy in the chart
 below. (The supernova is the asterisk *; is a fainter star.)

(By the way, south is at the bottom of SN1993J.GIF, toward the top
 in SN1993JB.GIF.)

The chart below was created by Michael Richmond at Princeton. When
 viewing this triangle, bear in mind that stars A and B in the chart
 are a few tens of thousands of light years from us; the supernova,
 on the other hand, is some 7 million light years distant!
                     N
     --------------------------------------
     |                .        G          |
     |             ....                   |
     |            .....                   |
     |            .M81       F            |
     |           .....              E     |
     |            ...            D        |
     |           A                        |
     |                *                   |
     |                C                   |
     |            B                       |
     |                                    |
     |                                    |
     |                                    |
  E  |                                    |  W
     |                                    |
     |                                    |
     |                                    |
     |                     X              |
     |                                    |
     |       W                            |
     |                    Y               |
     | Z                                  |
     |                                    |
     |                                    |
     --------------------------------------
                      S

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