---
title: 'We Caught One! SWIFT Sees a Supernova!'
url: 'https://grav.alicesastroinfo.com/blog/we-caught-one-swift-sees-a-supernova'
markdown: 'https://grav.alicesastroinfo.com/blog/we-caught-one-swift-sees-a-supernova.md'
date: '2008-05-21'
description: 'Podcast of We Caught One! SWIFT Sees a Supernova Caught in the Act … Alicia Soderberg and her colleagues (I’ve since read that she was on a plane, and her friend actually noticed this) got very lucky. She had NASA’s Swift X-Ray Telescope pointed at a galaxy (NGC 2770 in the Northern constellation L…'
taxonomy:
  category:
    - 'AstroInfo Article'
  tag:
    - audio
    - Stars
---

# [We Caught One! SWIFT Sees a Supernova!](https://grav.alicesastroinfo.com/blog/we-caught-one-swift-sees-a-supernova)

   21st May 2008   [audio](https://grav.alicesastroinfo.com/tag:audio#body-wrapper) [Stars](https://grav.alicesastroinfo.com/tag:Stars#body-wrapper)  

[Podcast of We Caught One! SWIFT Sees a Supernova](http://www.archive.org/download/AstroInfo_2008_05_21_SWIFT_Supernova/2008_05_21_SWIFT_Supernova.MP3)

## **Caught in the Act …**

Alicia Soderberg and her colleagues (I’ve since read that she was on a plane, and her friend actually noticed this) got very lucky. She had NASA’s Swift X-Ray Telescope pointed at a galaxy (NGC 2770 in the Northern constellation Lynx) when a supernova exploded right where she was looking.

[![2008_05_21 Swift Supernova](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3062/2568600599_ed70a7db20_o.jpg)](http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/211876main_Supernova_after_nolabels.jpg)
Credit: NASA
Caption: SWIFT X-ray image (left) of Supernova 2008D, Visible image (right) of NGC 2770

Although there are historically recorded observations of supernovae (1987A, Tycho’s Star, SN1054), never before has a telescope recorded the actual beginning of the outburst. Usually we see the remnant of the supernova, or catch just the middle or the end of the bright explosion.

## **More Detail, More Accurate:**

What Alicia saw is actually sort of the pre-signal for the supernova. We’ve seen the other stages of the supernova a few times before.

Scientists have been predicting that the first event as a star collapses into a supernova should be a humongously bright flash of X-Rays. Unfortunately, by the time we detect a supernova in progress, this flash has already finished. No matter how fast our telescopes turn, we can’t catch the X-Ray flash – though we can get most of the rest of the supernova, including most of the visible-light flash, the brightening of the area, and the dimming away.

Alicia and her team observed the bright flash lasting for about 5 minutes at 9:30 in the morning on January 9th of this year.

[![2008_05_21 Chandra Supernova](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3152/2569426326_aa83dda6b8_o.jpg)](http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2008/sn2008d/sn2008d.jpg)
Credit: NASA/CXC/Wisconsin/ D.Pooley et al.
Caption: Chandra X-ray Observatory image of the region around SN 2008D, obtained about 10 days after the supernova explosion. The faint red source in the upper right is SN 2008D. The other 3 X-ray sources are unrelated to this supernova.

## **Did you want statistics?**

Constellation: Lynx
Observation Dates: 01/19/2008
Observation Time: 5 hours
Instrument: ACIS
References: Soderberg et al. 2008, Nature, in press.
Distance Estimate: 90 million light years.

## **Want More?**

The Supernova: <http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2008/sn2008d/>
SWIFT: [http://www.nasa.gov/mission\_pages/swift/main/index.html](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/swift/main/index.html)

---

## Navigation

- Previous: [Watch the MAVEN Launch With Me: Monday at 10am Pacific](https://grav.alicesastroinfo.com/blog/watch-the-maven-launch-with-me-monday-at-10am-pacific.md)
- Next: [Wednesday, February 3, 2010](https://grav.alicesastroinfo.com/blog/wednesday-february-3-2010.md)