10-year-old becomes youngest to discover supernova

That's pretty cool.

That's a bummer. They're selling opportunities to name stars in a registry by the millions yet can't manage to name the object after the kid?

I wouldn't trust those star registries and their not so legally recognized naming of the stars. There are too many of these for profit organizations who are not recognized by any government or nonprofit academic source.

http://www.space.com/spacewatch/mystery_monday_030915.html

He must have a good eye; he 'd probably be a good marksman!
Give him an accurate rifle, for a prize.





David

Actually, her father developed a program that compares pictures of the sky from different times and highlights the differences. He's discovered fifteen supernovas using his software. The child turned it on, pressed the button the looked at the output. When I first heard of this, it sounded like a ten year old studying the heavens night after night, but it's not quite that romantic.

according to the news report i saw she was sitting with her father and comparing pictures, he was about to point it out to her, when she pointed it out to him, if i remember correctly he previously held the title of youngest person to find a supernova when he discovered one at 21

OK; I hope she gets an accurate rifle, anyway!

Jesus Christ . . . what a monomaniac.

Fredericton Girl Youngest To Find Supernova
Tobi Cohen, Postmedia News: Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Kathryn Aurora Gray is taking her new celebrity in stride after becoming the youngest person to discover a supernova.

The 10-year-old Fredericton girl’s phone has been ringing off the hook since the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada announced her find Monday.

But the amateur astronomer knows — better than anybody, perhaps — that her discovery is fleeting.

“It’s just a blowing-up of stars so eventually it will fade away,” she said of the supernova in an interview.

“I was very excited to find one,” she said. “Especially this quick.”

Kathryn made the discovery over the weekend under the supervision of her father, Paul Gray, and with help from family friend David Lane, longtime astronomy enthusiasts who were co-credited with the find.

According to the society, the trio spotted a magnitude 17 supernova in galaxy UGC 3378 in the constellation Camelopardalis, about 240 million light years away.

Supernovas are stellar explosions caused by the violent death of massive stars that are far bigger than the Earth’s sun and emit a bright light that fades over several weeks.

Mr. Lane collected the images with a telescope in Halifax on New Year’s Eve and sent them over to the Grays, who began examining them on Sunday using special computer software that allows users to lay new images on top of old ones and click between them to look for differences.

Kathryn said they quickly ruled out “noise” on the photograph and contacted a third party to take another photo in order to rule out a comet or asteroid.

“We sent the email off and then they made sure no one else had discovered it before and then they made an announcement,” said the Grade 5 student, who hopes to one day be a teacher.

According to the society, the discovery was verified by Illinois-based amateur astronomer Brian Tieman and Arizona-based Canadian amateur astronomer Jack Newton before it was reported to the International Astronomical Union’s Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams.

While this is Paul Gray’s seventh supernova — he found his first in 1995 at age 22, making him the youngest person at that time to spot one — he had more or less abandoned his supernova-finding hobby to take up stellar photography.

But about a year ago, his daughter heard him telling his wife Susan about a 14-year-old girl in the United States who had found a supernova, making her the youngest at the time to do so.

Kathryn, he said, immediately “piped up at the dinner table” that she wanted to give it a try. Over the past few months, father and daughter had been practising techniques for spotting supernovas using older images.

Noting this was her first crack at the real thing, Mr. Gray said her speedy discovery came as a surprise.

“It’s like she got struck by lightning,” he said. “It’s truly amazing. I’d like to get her to pick some lottery numbers for me.”

http://www.globalnews.ca/Fredericton+girl+youngest+find+supernova/4057011/story.html

That's cool!

That's your hope for all children!

Now the pressure's on for Sozlet to discover a black hole or better yet an alternative universe.

Indeed!

If I discovered a supernova with my daughter sitting in my lap, I too would let her claim the discovery.

U can help her.





David

YES; good point!

(the conservative Republican ones anyway)





David