BY BRENDAN SHRIANE | WEST HAWAII TODAY
Josh Bloom went up a mountain to watch a massive explosion.
On Friday, Bloom, an associate professor of astronomy at the University of California at Berkeley, ascended Mauna Kea to use W.M. Keck Observatory’s telescope.
There he planned to view the closest supernova — a giant stellar blast — to earth in a quarter century.
“Obviously, it’s the observation of a lifetime to see a supernova this bright and this close,” Bloom said of the type 1a supernova dubbed PTF11kly.
Astronomers for years have used similar celestial events to help solve parts of the puzzle of the night sky.
“These guys (type 1a supernovae) are used as distance indicators,” said Peter Nugent, the senior scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, who on Wednesday first observed the new supernova as it began to explode.
He said the type 1a supernovae are used because they generally behave in the same way — emiting the same amount of light when they occur around the universe — giving scientists a baseline to determine distance to cosmic objects.
“It’s an instant prototype of this kind of supernova,” said Bloom, whose opportunity to view the supernova was a bit of luck — he had previously planned to travel to the Big Island to use the Keck telescope for other observations.
“We can improve our understanding of how well we estimate the distance of these guys,” Nugent said.
While type 1a supernovae are used to measure comparative distance, they can also help explain other phenomenon. Astronomers used their knowledge of the supernovae to form theories on the expansion of the universe and the unexplained force known as dark energy.
“It will allow us to get a handle on questions about the formation and fate of the universe,” Bloom said of PTF11kly, which is 21 million light-years away.
The new supernova can currently only be seen by professional astronomers with large telescopes.
But it’s so close and expected to brighten so much as it continues to explode that in a week, amateurs with a pair of binoculars or an inexpensive telescope will be able to see it.
“That’s the real appeal,” Nugent said. “This guy gets so bright, we have photons to spare.”
The supernova can be observed in the Pinwheel Galaxy, which can be seen near the Big Dipper.
Because it’s so bright and so close, scientists will likely be able to study the supernova for the next decade.
“This is the gift that keeps on giving,” Bloom said.
Also of interest to scientists is the ability to go back and review old high-resolution images made by Keck and the Hubble Space Telescope of the area before the supernova began to see if those pictures offer any clues as to the causes of the giant stellar explosions
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