SN 2008ha was a type Ia

supernova A supernova (: supernovae or supernovas) is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. A supernova occurs during the last stellar evolution, evolutionary stages of a massive star, or when a white dwarf is triggered into runaway nuclear fusion ...

which was first observed around November 7, 2008 in the galaxy UGC 12682, which lies in the constellation

Pegasus Pegasus (; ) is a winged horse in Greek mythology, usually depicted as a white stallion. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. Pegasus was the brother of Chrysaor, both born from Medusa's blood w ...

at a distance of about from Earth. SN 2008ha was unusual in several ways: with an absolute V band magnitude of −14.2 it is one of the faintest supernovae ever observed; its host galaxy type very rarely produces supernovae. Another unusual feature of SN 2008ha was its low expansion velocity of only ~2000 km/s at maximum brightness, which indicates a very small

kinetic energy In physics, the kinetic energy of an object is the form of energy that it possesses due to its motion. In classical mechanics, the kinetic energy of a non-rotating object of mass ''m'' traveling at a speed ''v'' is \fracmv^2.Resnick, Rober ...

released in the explosion. For comparison, SN 2002cx expanded at a velocity of ~5000 km/s whereas typical SN Ia expand at around ~10,000 km/s. The low expansion velocity of SN2008ha resulted in relatively small

Doppler broadening In atomic physics, Doppler broadening is broadening of spectral lines due to the Doppler effect caused by a distribution of velocities of atoms or molecules. Different velocities of the emitting (or absorbing) particles result in different Doppl ...

of spectral emission lines and this led to higher quality data. The supernova was studied with ultraviolet, optical, and near-infrared

photometry Photometry can refer to: * Photometry (optics), the science of measurement of visible light in terms of its perceived brightness to human vision * Photometry (astronomy), the measurement of the flux or intensity of an astronomical object's electr ...

as well as optical spectra, using the

Magellan telescopes The Magellan Telescopes are a pair of optical telescopes located at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. The two telescopes are named after the astronomer Walter Baade and the philanthropist Landon T. Clay. First light for the telescopes was on ...

in Chile, the MMT telescope in

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, the Gemini and Keck telescopes in Hawaii, and NASA's Swift satellite. Spectroscopically, SN 2008ha was identified as a SN 2002cx-type, a peculiar sub-class of SN Ia. SN 2008ha had a brightness period of only 10 days, which is significantly shorter than that of other SN 2002cx-like objects (~15 days) or normal Ia supernovas (~20 days). From the peak luminosity and the brightness time it was estimated that SN 2008ha generated (3.0 ± 0.9) × 10⁻³ M_⊙ of ⁵⁶Ni, had a kinetic energy of 2 × 10⁴⁸

erg The erg is a unit of energy equal to 10−7joules (100Nano-, nJ). It is not an SI unit, instead originating from the centimetre–gram–second system of units (CGS). Its name is derived from (), a Greek language, Greek word meaning 'work' or ' ...

s, and ejected 0.15 M_⊙ of material.

Discovery

SN 2008ha was co-discovered by Caroline Moore, Jack Newton and Tim Puckett, members of the Puckett Observatory World Supernova Search. The 14-year-old Moore received considerable attention for her role in the discovery because at the time, she was the youngest person to have discovered a supernova. Moore is currently majoring in Political Science at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

. She was born and raised in Warwick, NY. To make the discovery she spent almost 7 months sifting through Puckett Observatory Supernova Search (POSS) images. Incredibly, she made her discovery using a relatively small, low-powered telescope. In July 2009, she discovered her second supernova named SN2009he. From a young age, Moore had practiced amateur astronomy with the assistance of her father. Early on she was very familiar with telescopes because of her scientific upbringing. She even converted her tree house into an observatory. Following her discovery, Moore was awarded $384,000 in grants from the

University of California-Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkeley ...

. Moore has since traveled across the US to promote the field of astronomy to children and discuss her discovery at astronomy events. She also used fundraising to construct an observatory in her former elementary school. Moore's discovery has allowed scientists to better understand the nature of the death of stars. It challenged the assumptions of the then current model for the explosive nature of supernovas. This is because 2008ha's low energy and low luminosity during the death of the star could not be explained with the current scientific model at the time due to it not being able to be distinctly classified as either a type Ia or type II Supernova. Despite being one of the weakest observed supernova on record, it was up to 1000 times brighter than the sun at one point and is approximately 70 million light years away from earth. Some scientists suggested that the supernova may have failed in exploding completely which is why the light emitted from it is so weak compared to other supernovas. In reference to Moore, one astrophysicist remarked that "the youngest person to ever discover a supernova found one of the most peculiar and interesting supernovae ever."

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

and First Lady

Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama ( Robinson; born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as the first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017, being married to Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United Stat ...

met with Moore after her discovery.

References

External links

Light curves and spectra
on th
Open Supernova Catalog
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303230459/https://sne.space/ , date=2016-03-03
SN 2008ha on Flickr
Supernovae Pegasus (constellation)

Discovery

See also

References

External links