Key facts
- Event type
- Hypernova
- Date
- c. 238 million years ago , (discovered 18 September 2006 by Robert Quimby and P. Mondol)
- Constellation
- Perseus
- Right ascension
- 03 17 27.10
- Declination
- +41 ° 24 ′ 19.50 ″
- Epoch
- J2000
- Galactic coordinates
- 150.2568 -13.5916
- Distance
- c. 238 million ly
- Host
- NGC 1260
- Progenitor
- Hypergiant
- Notable features
- is located 2.0" W and 0.4" N of the center of NGC 1260
- Peak apparent magnitude
- +14.2
- Other designations
- SN 2006gy
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- Hypernova
- Part of
- Q496348
- Location
- Q496348
- Constellation
- Perseus
- Distance from Earth
- 238000000
- Image
- SN 2006gy, NASA illustration.jpg
Show 10 more facts
- spectral class
- SN.IIn
- time of discovery or invention
- 2006-09-18
- Commons category
- SN 2006gy
- catalog code
- SN 2006gy
- Commons gallery
- SN 2006gy
- right ascension
- 49.362750
- declination
- 41.405417
- apparent magnitude
- 14.20
- epoch
- J2000.0
- radial velocity
- 5642
Sources (3)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
SN 2006gy was an extremely energetic supernova, also referred to as a hypernova, that was discovered on September 18, 2006. It was first observed by Robert Quimby and P. Mondol, and then studied by several teams of astronomers using facilities that included the Chandra, Lick, and Keck Observatories. In May 2007, NASA and several of the astronomers announced the first detailed analyses of the supernova, describing it as the "brightest stellar explosion ever recorded". In October 2007, Quimby announced that SN 2005ap had broken SN 2006gy's record as the brightest-ever recorded supernova, and several subsequent discoveries are brighter still. Time magazine listed the discovery of SN 2006gy as third in its Top 10 Scientific Discoveries for 2007.
Characteristics
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “SN 2006gy” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.