(EndPlay Staff Reports) - Scientists have discovered what may be the closest supernova to Earth in the past 25 years and you can see it this week.
A team of astronomers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley discovered the violently exploding white dwarf star in the Pinwheel Galaxy, about 21 million light-years away.
The Berkeley Lab stated in a press release that it will be bright enough that skywatchers may be able to see it with a pair of binoculars. It is near the Big Dipper constellation and can be seen best within the first few hours after sunset.
Astrophysicist Peter Nugent spotted the supernova on Aug. 24 while checking a robotic telescope at the lab to see of it had picked up anything interesting the night before.
more Supernova Visible this Week
A team of astronomers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California at Berkeley discovered the violently exploding white dwarf star in the Pinwheel Galaxy, about 21 million light-years away.
The Berkeley Lab stated in a press release that it will be bright enough that skywatchers may be able to see it with a pair of binoculars. It is near the Big Dipper constellation and can be seen best within the first few hours after sunset.
Astrophysicist Peter Nugent spotted the supernova on Aug. 24 while checking a robotic telescope at the lab to see of it had picked up anything interesting the night before.
more Supernova Visible this Week