GeologyRocks

A supernova was found by a 10-year-old girl in Canada, the youngest person ever to detect the appearance of an exploding star. Working from her Fredericton, New Brunswick home, Kathryn Aurora Gray made her discovery with her father's help Jan. 2. Even the most seasoned astronomers think about the discovery of supernovas, which are very rare, a career highlight. This girl may have a great future and not need to take out any payday cash advance loans for college if she continues this path.

Finding a supernova

On New Year’s Eve, Kathryn Aurora Gray took some images of the sky with her father’s telescope which lead her to discover the supernova scanning images. There was a computer program started to help Astronomers discover supernovas. Generally they take a look at pictures of the sky from the past and future and see if there are any new things within the sky. There is a bright flash that outshines the stars around it when a supernova explodes. Even if it wasn’t there before, it will appear to be within the sky. Kathryn's night sky images were taken at nearby Abbey Ridge Observatory. The galaxy UGC 3378 which is about 240 million light years from earth is where the supernova was found.

Discovering the perfect discovery

When compared to other astronomers, the discovery Kathryn made was better than others her age could make. She became interested in astronomy about a year ago and decided to focus on finding a supernova when she learned that the youngest person to ever discover an exploding star was a 14-year-old. Kathryn’s father, Paul Gray who found six supernovas already, is who she will be sharing her recognition for finding the star with.

Supernovas in our neighborhood

Supernovas are studied by astronomers for a reason. It is because other planets are hut by the chemical elements that they spew billions of miles into space. It was 240 million years ago that the supernova exploded that Kathryn discovered. The last supernova detected in the Milky Way galaxy exploded about 140 years ago. When it happened, nobody on Earth observed it. There were remnants found from the explosion by the orbiting telescope Chandra X-Ray observatory though. An additional supernova explosion happened in 1680 within the Milky way. That was the last known one.

Articles cited

MSNBC

msnbc.msn.com/id/40908913/ns/technology_and_science-space/

Christian Science Monitor

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandra_X-ray_Observatory

Discovery News

news.discovery.com/space/supernova-discovered-by-10-year-old.html