Please join us Thursday, March 18th at 7 PM for a virtual lecture presented by Fred Jaquin, Professor Emeritus of Astronomy and Physics at Onondaga Community College.
Measuring the Distance to nearby spiral galaxy NGC 2442 using the method of “standard candles” and supernova SN2015F.
This presentation will illustrate the potential for analyzing time lapse videos of supernova. On 09 Feb 2016 the astronomy Picture of the Day presented a time lapse video of supernova SN2015F. Link to APOD: 2016 February 9 – The Rise and Fall of Supernova 2015F to see that video. The light curve of SN2015F is consistent with that of a Type 1a supernova – the re-ignition of a white dwarf stellar remnant in a binary star system. These Type1a supernova are considered very good “standard candles” in that they all have nearly the same peak absolute magnitude (i.e. luminosity). Using known foreground stars, a relationship between the stellar image diameter and apparent magnitude for the images was determined. With the peak apparent magnitude of SN2015F known a distance can be determined from the distance modulus (m-M). The effect of interstellar extinction must be included for an accurate distance estimate.
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83156644506?pwd=R3NMQWJPM1JoMFRVRDJTSFZjdklqQT09