I was imaging the Pinwheel Galaxy for 6 nights (Tues May 16 - Sunday May 21) 6 nights at San Diego County Agua Caliente Hot Springs campground and I captured 2023ixf Supernova while it was happening in real time (although it did take the light 21 million years to get here). The Supernova appears in my data on Thursday 5/18 at 8:58 pm Pacific Daylight Time (PDT). Which is actually the first image I took on Thursday, 9:00 pm PDT is when it is dark enough to start imaging. The last image I took on Wednesday 5/17 was 4:23 am PDT, right before dawn and the Supernova had not occurred yet. So sometime between Wednesday 5/17 at 4:23 am PDT and Thursday 5/18 8:58 pm PDT is when the star went supernova.
Since I was imaging continuously with 10 minute exposures, I created a time lapse starting Tuesday and completing on Sunday. On Thursday you can see the pinpoint of the explosion and the growth of the explosion as the night and days progress to Sunday. Absolutely stunning watching this explosion 23 million lightyears away, with the growth so rapidly in a Universe where milineum to us are like seconds to the universe. I calibrated and registered 169 images (10 minute exposures each) into a time lapse which starts on Tuesday and ends on Sunday. The time lapse lasts 15 seconds and it will continue to repeat, so please continue to watch it until you see a small dot appear at first then grow. Look for the catalog number (on the overlay) for NGC5461 (Hydrogen region), the Supernova will appear very close to NGC5461 which is at the top of the image, left of center.
I captured this astronomical data using wide band (visible light) Lum, Red, Green, and Blue over 6 nights, 5/16/2023, 5/17/2023, 5/18/2023, 5/19/2023, 5/20/2023 and 5/21/2023 from Agua Caliente Springs Campground (Bortle 3 light pollution rating).
Chroma Blue 50 mm: 45×600″(7h 30′)
Chroma Green 50 mm: 45×600″(7h 30′)
Chroma Lum 50 mm: 35×600″(5h 50′)
Chroma Red 50 mm: 44×600″(7h 20′)
Total Imaging Time = 28h 10min
The timelapse is hosted on Astrobin, click on link below:
| Catalog | Name | Reported RA | Reported DEC | Reported Obj-Type | Reported Redshift | Host Name | Host Redshift | Remarks | TNS RA | TNS DEC | TNS Obj-Type | TNS Redshift |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TNS | 2023ixf | 14:03:38.562 | +54:18:41.94 | SN II | 0.000804 | M101 | 14:03:38.562 | +54:18:41.94 | SN II | 0.0008 |
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