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Summary
Summary
Supernova explosions, which mark the deaths of massive stars or of white dwarf stars in binary systems,are unbelievably violent events. Despite occurring in gal- ies many millions of light-years away,amateur telescopes can reveal these colossal explosions,and even discover them. In the past 25 years,the amateur astronomer's contribution to supernova research has been staggering. Visual variable star observers with access to large-aperture amateur telescopes have contributed a steady stream of magnitude estimates of the brightest and closest supernovae. In addition, with the increasing availability of robotic telescopes and CCD techn- ogy, more and more amateurs are discovering supernovae from their backyards. Worldwide, there have been more than 400 supernovae discovered by amateur astronomers using amateur telescopes. Supernova research has never been so important. Recent professional measurements of the most distant Type Ia sup- novae have revealed the staggering and unexpected discovery that the acceleration of the Universe is actually increasing! This,in turn,has led to a new phrase, dark energy,entering the astronomical vocabulary; a mysterious force,in opposition to gravity, driving the accelerated expansion. Although amateurs cannot study the farthest supernovae,their discovery and measurement of the closer examples helps to re?ne the science that is the hottest topic in cosmology today; that is,pinning down the history of the Universe and how much mass and energy exists within it today. As always, amateur astronomers are making a valuable contribution, and, hopefully, this book might inspire a few more to monitor and discover new supernovae. Martin Mobberley Suffolk, U. K.
Author Notes
Martin Mobberley has a BSc Honours degree in Electronic Engineering from Brunel University, and is a former British Astronomical Association President and Goodacre Medallist.
He is also the author of Astronomical Equipment for Amateurs (1998) and The New Amateur Astronomer (2004); and has contributed chapters to three other Springer Practical Astronomy Series Books. He wrote the children's book Space Navigator , and has published many papers in Astronomy Now, The Journal of the British Astronomical Association, The Astronomer, and Sky & Telescope.
Reviews 1
Choice Review
Former president of the British Astronomical Association and distinguished amateur astronomer Mobberley provides an exceptionally useful overview of supernovae and their characteristics in the first quarter of this book. The remainder is devoted to issues that concern the observer. Mobberley offers concrete suggestions of how to observe supernovae visually, use charge-coupled devices (CCDs) to do photometry (including recommended software and a very good description of techniques), and attempt spectroscopy with amateur-size telescopes. He profiles his fellow amateur observers from around the world with descriptions of their equipment, efforts, and successes. Concluding chapters provide suggestions for searching Messier and Caldwell galaxies for supernovae and for imaging supernovae remnants. The illustrations are plentiful and include many examples of amateur research such as light curves, equipment, and galaxy images (with and without supernovae). The images, tables, and list of Web sites make this a good resource for anyone interested in supernovae. Much of the background information on observing techniques is transferable to general astronomical observing. Amateur astronomers not ready for the devotion required to discover supernovae may want to monitor them or just learn more about them in this book. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers; lower-division undergraduates. M.-K. Hemenway University of Texas at Austin
Table of Contents
| Part 1 Supernovae facts and feats |
| Supernova Physics - what they are |
| Supernovae as a measure of the Universe |
| Supernovae in History |
| The Top 100 Supernovae |
| Supernovae - a threat to life on Earth? |
| Part 2 Observing and Discovering Supernovae |
| Supernovae as visual variable stars |
| Supernova photometry and light curves |
| Amateur supernova hunting in the 21st Century |
| The 40 Messier galaxies - images and locations |
| The Caldwell galaxies - images and locations |
| The first 200 Supernovae (thumbnail mosaics) |
