New Supernova in M61
Discussion
Nom de ploom said:
so did this happen 55 years ago and it has taken this long for us to see it from earth?
55 million as above - and yes that's how it works. When you look up into the sky - you aren't seeing things as they are, you are seeing them as they were in the past depending on the distance from earth. The further away the object is - the further into the past you are looking.For example - the sun is around 8 light minutes from earth - so you are seeing it as it was 8 minutes ago.
sorry my bad, 55 million of course.
does the effect of a powerful telescope have any effect on when we can see objects?
i feel totally dumb asking this but say you have a very powerful telescope does this foreshorten the time it takes to spot it versus the naked eye or a smaller less powerful telescope or is it irrelevant?
like I said daft question I'm sure....
does the effect of a powerful telescope have any effect on when we can see objects?
i feel totally dumb asking this but say you have a very powerful telescope does this foreshorten the time it takes to spot it versus the naked eye or a smaller less powerful telescope or is it irrelevant?
like I said daft question I'm sure....
Nom de ploom said:
sorry my bad, 55 million of course.
does the effect of a powerful telescope have any effect on when we can see objects?
i feel totally dumb asking this but say you have a very powerful telescope does this foreshorten the time it takes to spot it versus the naked eye or a smaller less powerful telescope or is it irrelevant?
like I said daft question I'm sure....
Not daft at all. does the effect of a powerful telescope have any effect on when we can see objects?
i feel totally dumb asking this but say you have a very powerful telescope does this foreshorten the time it takes to spot it versus the naked eye or a smaller less powerful telescope or is it irrelevant?
like I said daft question I'm sure....
The thing that governs whether or not you can see an object in space is how bright it is (the apparent magnitude). The brighter an object, the more likely you are to see it with a low power telescope or your eyes. A high power telescope has high magnification and allows you to see more detail and therefore more objects in the night sky that would be missed by the naked eye.
Think of it as something like a pair of binoculars. You could see a tree 30 metres away with the naked eye, but with binoculars you could see more detail.
There isn't really any difference in the time taken to see an object through a telescope as the light still has to hit the back of your eye, regardless what it is looked through. To see something sooner, you'd need to be closer to it.
Have a read of this as it is a description of star magnitude:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apparent_magnitude
SO....this celestial event happened 55 million years ago and we see the light from it now, I get that bit.
However, is there a likelihood that the effects of this massive event have been experienced ? local gravitational ripples? the energy ouput from the explosion etc?
I know nothing travels faster than light so, the obvious answer is yes but we haven't seen it or felt it yet. or yes but its so far away to be not measureable....
would the effects of the supernova be "visible" in different spectrums before light?
i need to lie down....
However, is there a likelihood that the effects of this massive event have been experienced ? local gravitational ripples? the energy ouput from the explosion etc?
I know nothing travels faster than light so, the obvious answer is yes but we haven't seen it or felt it yet. or yes but its so far away to be not measureable....
would the effects of the supernova be "visible" in different spectrums before light?
i need to lie down....
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