A Serendipitous Discovery

“We were at the right place, at the right time, with the right telescope,

and witnessed history...”

For the very first time we caught

a star in the act of explodingX-ray

Outburst!

Image courtesy of Princeton, Gemini Observatories, and NASA

Crab nebula, SN 1054

Historically, Supernova Discoveries are Visual

Ancient supernova DiscoveryChaco Canyon, NM

SN 1054

SN1994D, Image courtesy of Challis, Harvard-CfA

Image courtesy of NASA

Amateur Astronomers

A supernova shines as bright as a one billion Suns

But only one supernova every century

supernova

Historical Method

Revolutionizing the Discovery + Study of SupernovaeVi

sual

Lig

ht

DiscoveryTime

Visual discovery ➔ DELAY (weeks!) between explosion and discovery

By then, most of the fireworks are over...

Long-predicted,but never yet seen“break out” light

(Colgate, 1974)• exactly at the time of explosion• 1000 x brighter than visual light• lasts just seconds to minutes• only visible in the X-rays

extremely difficult to detect !

(Image courtesy of Dana Berry)

Caught in the Act - The Birth of Supernova

2008D

X-ray Visual

Swift satellite

(Image courtesy of NASA)

Alicia Soderberg

An X-ray outburst appeared in my Swift data from Jan 9 brighter than 100 billion Suns.

Alert the community, steer telescopesThe outburst signaled the birth of a new

supernova

Two supernova in the same galaxy?Chance probability : 1 in 10,000 (very

lucky)

The Future is BrightEVERY massive star supernova produces

an X-ray outburst

Future X-ray telescopes will find hundreds of supernovae each year

“Time stamp” provided by X-rayscrucial for neutrino & gravitational wave

searches

X-rayOutburst!

Image courtesy of Princeton, Gemini Observatories, and NASA