Hi,

Congratulations to Dave on his discovery of a supernova in UGC 112 last September (mag 18.7) which has been confirmed recently.

John
Director, Variable Star Observers Group

Well done Dave

Keith..

Congratulations Dave, Very well deserved.
This is the first SN discovery from Ireland.

Eamonn A

www.kingslandobservatory.com

October is a good month for Irish Astronomers. Hot on the heels of his asteroid discovery in October 2008 and March 2009, Dave Grennan has done it yet again in 2010!

This is the first Supernova discovery from Ireland - yes, Irish astronomy is alive and thriving. From a personal point of view, I can't think of a better reward for all the effort Dave has put in over the years - the work he has done for Amateur Astronomy in Ireland has been immense. The help he gives selflessly to other amateurs is comendable. So, his first, and Ireland's first, Supernova discovery is a just reward indeed. Many many congratulations Dave!

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away a star exploded. 290 million years later the light from this exploding star known as a ‘Supernova’ was discovered by amateur astronomer David Grennan from his observatory in Raheny, North Dublin. This is the first time such a discovery has been made from Ireland.

Supernovae represent the cataclysmic failure of a star. Such explosions are unimaginably violent and not only represent the end of life for a Sun just like ours, but also a catastrophic end for any planets which may orbit this star. The consequences for any beings living on a planet where the parent star explodes like are naturally pretty dire.

Grennan’s discovery has yet to be named by the International Astronomical Union. Although his discovery was made during a search undertaken on September 17th , it is required that detailed confirmation must follow before being official announced.

“My initial discovery was confirmed by colleagues in the UK however more confirmation was required before the discovery could be announced” said Grennan.

Prof. Stephen Smartt and his team at Queen’s University Belfast analysed the light coming from the explosion using the 2.5metre Nordic Optical Telescope at La Palma in the Canaries. Prof. Smartt and his team confirmed the discovery as a ”type 1b/c” supernova meaning that the explosion was caused by one star ripping material from another. Prof. Smartt concluded that his analysis of this event shows it has peculiarities which mean this discovery may be of great interest to the scientific community.

Grennan goes on to describe his feelings following the find:

“Naturally I’m very excited at having made this discovery, especially since it’s a first for Ireland. I find myself wondering if there were some poor souls living on planets surrounding the star when it exploded. One thing is for sure, we’ll never know. The apparent unusual nature of this event makes it doubly exciting. It will be weeks and months before we know exactly what the true nature of this object is. Because of the vast distances involved this explosion took place over 290 million years ago, long before even the first dinosaurs walked the earth."





Copyright Dave Grennan

eansbro wrote:

Congratulations Dave, Very well deserved.
This is the first SN discovery from Ireland.

Eamonn A

Eamonn - am I right in recalling that you discovered a Nova from Ireland a while back?

Thats excellent news. Well done Dave !!!

Good result Dave. All the more sweeter for being the first from Ireland.

Congrats.

Mark

Wow,!! amazing stuff, well done.

Spot on Dave, well done!

Seanie.

Dave's Supernova has been designated as 2010ik



www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/lists/RecentSupernovae.html

Well done Dave G. Good work.
I'd be interested in hearing more about it...no of galaxies pet night, exposure times, etc.

Michael

Thanks all for the good wishes and kind words.

Natually I'm thrilled about this. Not only the discovery itself but what tickles me even more is the apparent peculiar nature of this supernova. Actually the story of the discovery itself is a bit of a saga, so i've written it up on my website.

www.webtreatz.com/index.php/articles/34-...-supernova-discovery

I hope that explains most of it and if there is any detail you need to know, just drop me aline.

I really want to thank the following for their unending support and patience over the last couple of weeks while I droned on incessantly about the clouds, moon etc. Without these people below this discovery would have remained just a suspected supernova.

(not in any particular order)

Martin Mobberley, Suffolk
Tom Boles - Coddenham UK
Guy Hurst - Basingstoke UK
Ron Arbour - South Wonston, UK
Our own Dave Mc (of course)
Pat Rochford, Florida USA
Carl O'Beirnes and my long suffering wife Carol.

(If I left anyone out, sincerest apologies)

Lastly and by no means least a special word of thanks to Prof. Stephen Smartt and his team at Queen's for the massive effort to secure spectroscopic confirmation at La Palma last night.

I had a bit of an OMG moment last night when it sank in that my suspected supernova was being imaged on La Palma. One of those scary moments when you pray you haven't gotten in badly wrong!

One of the things Prof. Smartt mentioned was the ongoing need to monitor this supernova to determine if the peculiar magnitude 'plateau' is real so if anyone out there is in a position to observe this the co-ordinates are;

RA = 00 12 07.47 DEC = +41 45 24.9 Mag +18.7 (If your not familar with data reduction techniques just send the fits file to DaveMc or myself. The results of this monitoring has real scientific value and will be most appreciated. All contributing observers will be afforded full credit.

Thanks again,

Dave.

Hi Dave Mc,

Yes your right, I did discover the first Nova from Ireland many years ago. This brings back memories. It was a novelty in those days, it hit the main RTE and BBC news. Finding Novae as you know is a lot more difficult as compared to SNs, because you don't know where in the sky to find them, hence may be the one nova in two or three years. This was before CCD cameras. I remember I took about 80 hours of exposures using photo film.

I think Dave did very well in discovering his SN when compared to all the competition thats around. However, I did mention to Dave G that his search fields are really fertile when compared to the competition. Most of the "factory" searches that "harvest" SNe are mainly in the mid latitudes. The likes of Tom Boles in the UK at our latitudes has had very good success rates in recent years in the polar regions.

It's ironical that when the IFAS AOP was initiated 3 or 4 years ago, there was a lot of enthusium as team work, but it is difficult to coordinate a team program. I know in the UK that there SN searches are done by individual observers, whereby in the US you have the Puckett team that analyse the comparison images in teams. The idea of IFAS AOP was a similar model to the Puckett approach. I still believe this approach will work with an Irish team.

I really hope that Dave's SN discovery will be an inspiration to others on the IFAS board to try this out.

Eamonn A

www.kingslandobservatory.com

Dave is not only an inspiration, but a great source of pride to anyone who has met him.
A modest and unassuming guy with a wonderful sense of humour, he is a great ambassador for the new wave of Irish astronomers who are making such a mark with their recent discoveries.Congratulations.

I managed to acquire a quite deep image of 2010ik this evening. The attached image has a limiting magnitude of +21.2 and is the result of 62 x 60 second images. This observation puts the supernova at +18.6. Astrometry and more details on the image.



Thanks to all again,

Dave

Well done Dave on that amazing discovery. It is a real testament to your skill and dedication but also a deserved reward for the contributions you have made to Irish astronomy.

John

Well done Dave,

Michael.

Is there nothing this man can't do?

Congrats Dave.

Well done Dave,

A supper reward for all your hard work.

Congrats.


Gary

Congratulations, Dave.

Dare I say, this is an even more exclusive achievement that your discovering
asteroids. Keep up your great work!

David

P.S. I've just read Central Bureau Electronic Telegram 2479 issued today by
the International Astronomical Union, entitled "SUPERNOVA 2010ik IN UGC 112".
It begins:

David Grennan, Raheny (Dublin), Ireland, reports his discovery of an
apparent supernova (mag approximately 18.7 at discovery) on an unfiltered CCD
image (limiting mag 19.5) taken on Sept. 17.9416 UT with a 0.36-m Schmidt-
Cassegrain telescope.

Hi Everyone,

I'm not surprised by the news at all. The time and effort Dave puts into his work is astonishing night in night out. I'm sure it will be the first of many for Irish astronomy

Congratulations mate

Carl O'Beirnes,
Balbriggan Observatory (MPC#J09),
Co Dublin,
Ireland.
www.webtreatz.com

Great discovery Dave!

Fabulous website.

You and Catherine are an inspiration!!

Thank you,
Peter

Very well done Dave.
A just reward for all the hard work.

Paul.

Whoa Awesome!
Outstanding discovery Dave.

Congratulations Dave, heard you mentioned on the Ian Dempsey show this morning and just listened to your interview with Ray D'arcy - great news to cheer us all up in depressing times!
Bernie