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EVER wanted to watch a star explode? A supernova detected in a nearby galaxy is getting brighter by the day and may soon be visible with small telescopes in the northern hemisphere.
The explosion is taking place about 25 million light years from Earth, in a spiral galaxy called the Pinwheel, also known as M101.
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Called PTF11kly, it鈥檚 a member of the particularly interesting type 1a class of supernova. These occur when a white dwarf star tears itself to bits in a nuclear explosion. The relative brightness of type 1a supernovae in nearby and distant galaxies is used to track the expansion history of the universe. Such measurements led to the discovery of dark energy, the mysterious force thought to be causing the expansion to accelerate 鈥� and are still used to better understand its effects.
PTF11kly is the closest type 1a that has been observed since 1972, and will likely reach between one-sixth and one-half the brightness of Neptune as seen from Earth.