The image at left represents a small region of NGC 2403, a galaxy located 11 million light-years from Earth. The photo was taken two months before a massive star exploded. The image pinpoints the location of the stellar blast, known as supernova 2004dj, within a cluster of massive, generally blue (but some red) stars called Sandage 96. The cluster's total mass is estimated at about 24,000 times the mass of the Sun. The stars in this cluster are so far away that their light blends together, appearing as the light of a single star. The yellow object below and to the left of the cluster is a foreground star in our Milky Way Galaxy. The pink blob at bottom, center is a star-birth region. This image was taken May 8, 2004, with the WIYN 0.9-meter mosaic camera at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona.
The image at right pinpoints the supernova blast. The photo was taken on Aug. 17, 2004, with the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys. The light from this outburst outshines every star in the massive cluster. Similar blue clusters of stars can be seen throughout the image. The bluish-pink blob towards the bottom of the image is a large star-birth region.
Credits
Ground-based image: WIYN/NOAO/AURA/NSF, T. Rector (University of Alaska, Anchorage), Z. Levay and L. Frattare (STScI);Hubble image: NASA, ESA, A.V. Filippenko (University of California, Berkeley), P. Challis (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics), et al.
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | SN 2004dj, NGC 2403 |
| Object Description | Supernova in spiral galaxy |
| R.A. Position | 07h 36m 57.22s |
| Dec. Position | 65° 36' 21.53" |
| Constellation | Camelopardalis |
| Distance | Approximately 11 million light-years (3.4 Megaparsecs) |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description | This image was created from HST data from proposal : A. V. Filippenko (UC Berkeley), P. Challis (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA) and collaborators. |
| Instrument | WIYN>0.9m Mosaic (left) and HST>ACS/WFC (right) |
| Exposure Dates | May 8, 2004 (WIYN), August 17, 2004 (ACS) |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
