# "The Brightest Supernova Ever"?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 9, 2007, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brightest-supernova-ever/403418 "2007-05-09T17:12:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brightest-supernova-ever/403418/1 "2007-05-09T17:12:00Z")
This is a current-news question, but hopefully not the sort of one that the rule addresses. On last night’s news, there was a teaser about “scientists observing the brightest supernova ever seen.” Needless to say, there was nearly nothing more about it, in order to leave time for making sure we know that Anna Nicole is still dead. Absolutely no further information about it on the news, and I’ve seen nothing on the Internet that appears to be addressing it. Anyone know anything more? ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brightest-supernova-ever/403418/2 "2007-05-09T17:17:19Z")
Google news is your friend in this sort of thing… I got some very interesting results just by searching on ‘supernova’ 😉 One odd bit from [this article](http://www.postchronicle.com/news/original/article_21279630.shtml) in the Post Chronicle website… > [@Post Chronicle](#): > > Supernova Sensation - A star 150 times larger than our Sun exploded recently, producing what astronomers believe to be a new type of supernova. > The death of the star, located some 240 million light years away… Um, if it’s 240 million light years away, then it exploded 240 million years ago, guys. Sheesh!! ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brightest-supernova-ever/403418/3 "2007-05-09T17:19:34Z")
[QUOTE=chrisk] Um, if it’s 240 million light years away, then it exploded 240 million years ago, guys. Sheesh!! [/QUOTE] That IS recently. The universe is around 15 billion years old. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2007, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brightest-supernova-ever/403418/4 "2007-05-09T17:20:02Z")
[The NASA press release](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/news/chandra_bright_supernova.html) that the various news stories are based on. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2007, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brightest-supernova-ever/403418/5 "2007-05-10T10:30:28Z")
\>Um, if it’s 240 million light years away, then it exploded 240 million years ago, guys. Sheesh!! It is the custom in astronomy to discuss such events with time references that step over the delay for the light getting to us, in part because we can talk about the evolution of a supernova in minutes and hours whereas that time delay could have tens of millions of years of error. An exception is in cosmology where the time delay per se is part of the subject of study. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2007, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brightest-supernova-ever/403418/6 "2007-05-10T10:41:56Z")
I assume that “brightest supernova ever seen” is from the media, and not the scientists? 'Cause if we can’t see it with the naked eye in daylight, it’s not. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2007, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brightest-supernova-ever/403418/7 "2007-05-10T11:54:51Z")
[QUOTE=Frank] I assume that “brightest supernova ever seen” is from the media, and not the scientists? 'Cause if we can’t see it with the naked eye in daylight, it’s not. [/QUOTE] Well, unless they’re talking absolute magnitude, of course. I don’t know what our chances are of seeing a single supernova with the naked eye when it’s 120 times as distant as the Andromeda Galaxy. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2007, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-brightest-supernova-ever/403418/8 "2007-05-10T14:55:24Z")
The scary thing is that Eta Carinae (7500 light years away) is shedding material in a similar manner to SN 2006gy - if it goes (_has gone sometime in the last 7500 years_) in a similar fashion, it will be pretty spectacular when we get to see it. And Astronomers are now looking for dust cloud reflections of historical supernova, giving us a second chance look at supernova we missed. Si