# A question about the stars we see **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 18, 2013, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-stars-we-see/647638 "2013-01-18T18:50:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Alka\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Alka\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alka_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-stars-we-see/647638/41 "2013-01-19T22:16:45Z")
> [@artemis](#): > > The hard part would be knowing the appearance of the Large Magellanic Cloud well enough to notice that it had changed, and now contained a “new” star. At that magnitude, the supernova wouldn’t jump out to the casual stargazer, but someone who was specifically looking for it wouldn’t have much trouble finding it. I misremembered how bright magnitude 3 is. I was thinking it was towards the lower end of naked eye visibility, while it’s actually much brighter than that. There are only 171 stars of magnitude 3 and above, so the supernova would have been obvious to anyone familiar with the constellations in that area of sky, as it would have been brighter than the stars in the two nearest ones, Dorado and Mensa. But most of us didn’t miss an opportunity here, the Large Magellanic Cloud is only visible from the southern hemisphere. > [@Chronos](#): > > Actually, I think SN1987a _was_ originally discovered by someone actually looking up with his naked eye and noticing an “extra” star in the LMC. Which was very quickly followed up with telescopic observations, of course. I’m sure you’re right. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-stars-we-see/647638/42 "2013-01-19T23:29:55Z")
> [@Frazzled](#): > > This video gives you a brief tour of the universe. Every dot in there is a galaxy. Prepare to feel small 🙂 > > [APOD: 2012 August 13 - A Flight Through the Universe](http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120813.html) Hey, I think I saw my house in that video. ---
**Author:** ![Dancer\_Flight](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dancer_flight/32/7601_2.png) [@Dancer\_Flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dancer_Flight)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2013, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-stars-we-see/647638/43 "2013-01-20T04:56:29Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Actually, I think SN1987a _was_ originally discovered by someone actually looking up with his naked eye and noticing an “extra” star in the LMC. Which was very quickly followed up with telescopic observations, of course. The folks who got credit for the discovery were Ian Shelton and Oscar Duhalde at the Las Campanas Observatory. Shelton was taking an exposure of the LMC on a 10" secondary telescope and was having a bad night of it. He checked the plate and found a new object. In the meantime Duhalde had taken a brief break from his duties at the main telescope and took a walk outside and noticed a new star in the region of the LMC but was too busy with the rest of his night to do an immediate follow-up. Shelton compared his plate of that night with the previous night’s image and confirmed a new object and then checked outside to see if it was still visible. He and Duhalde then sent out the telex announcing it. See the Wiki Article on [Ian Shelton](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Shelton), and [Supernove 1987A](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1987A), and if you want to hear the story in their own words you can check out the [relevant episode of Nova](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubDjB-gHfsw) on Youtube. -DF [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-about-the-stars-we-see/647638.md?page=2)