More than 700 volunteer scientists helped identify over 30,000 astronomical objects, including stellar outbreaks, 970 million years ago, hundreds of millions of years before the first dinosaurs appeared on Earth.
When a large star reaches the end of its life, it flares brightly like a supernova. In order to identify such space objects, the leadership of the Australian National University (ANU) invited volunteer scientists to more effectively hunt for supernovae.
Using images taken by the SkyMapper telescope, supernova hunters helped detect a supernova outbreak about 970 million light-years from Earth. This means that the star exploded millions of years before dinosaurs appeared on our planet.
“This is the exact type of supernova we are looking for – Type Ia.” Such supernovas are used to measure distances in the universe, “said Brad Tucker, a researcher at the Australian Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics.
“This is the exact type of supernova we are looking for – Type Ia.” Such supernovas are used to measure distances in the universe, “said Brad Tucker, a researcher at the Australian Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics.
The discovered supernova remnants were designated SN2017dxh. However, this is only a candidate for real supernovae. In parallel with the study of this candidate, scientists track the location of another 18 potential supernovae.
