N.B. girl youngest to discover supernova
Last Updated: Monday, January 3, 2011 | 5:03 PM AT
CBC News
A 10-year-old from Fredericton, N.B., has become the youngest person ever to discover a supernova.
The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada says in a release amateur astronomer Kathryn Aurora Gray located the supernova under the watch of two other astronomers.
Supernovas are exploding stars that indicate the deaths of stars several times more massive than the sun. Gray located hers in the constellation of Camelopardalis.
The last one to be observed in our own galaxy was recorded several hundred years ago, before the invention of the telescope.
Supernovas are rare, but the odds of discovering one can be increased by checking other galaxies.
The society said that in this case the galaxy was "imaged" on Friday, New Year's Eve, and the supernova was located on Sunday.
A new supernova shows up as a bright point of light that wasn't visible the last time a galaxy was checked. Since supernovas can outshine millions of regular stars, they can be spotted with a modest telescope.
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