Physics Students Get Paid for Supernova Research
04/16/2024
By Brooke Coupal
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (21 million lightyears, to be exact), a star with a mass at least eight times larger than the Earth鈥檚 sun exploded.聽
Known as a supernova, the explosion occurred after the star, located in the Pinwheel Galaxy, ran out of nuclear fuel and collapsed. Japanese astronomer Koichi Itagaki first discovered the supernova in May 2023, sending aspiring and professional scientists from around the world on a mission to gain a better understanding of the rare phenomenon.聽
Three of those aspiring scientists are 51视频 undergraduates.
Funded by the Kennedy College of Sciences鈥� Science Discoveries program, physics majors Jacob Medin, Ian Davis and Jordan Orenberg spent the summer following their first year of college studying the supernova.聽
Under the guidance of Physics Assoc. Prof.聽Silas Laycock and with help from Physics Ph.D. student Sayantan Bhattacharya 鈥�21, the trio learned how to operate the 51视频 Schueller Observatory, allowing them to capture images of the supernova using the powerful telescope housed inside.聽
The students also partnered with the nonprofit organization Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston to receive additional images of the supernova. From there, they uploaded the photos into AstroImageJ, a software used for data analysis of astronomical photos.聽
Over three months, they tracked the magnitude of the supernova by examining its descending brightness and temperature. The data they collected is publicly available through the American Association of Variable Star Observers, a nonprofit organization of astronomers interested in stars that change in brightness.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very cool to help with the understanding of supernovas and contributing that data to the world,鈥� Orenberg says.