I am glad I bought a home telescope couple of weeks ago. If we have clear sky, in the next few weeks, then we should be able to take a glimpse of this exciting event with my basic telescope. New Supernova Type Ia supernova PTF 11kly, the youngest ever detected, is seen above over three successive nights. The image, taken Aug. 22, shows the event before it exploded supernova, approximately 1 million times fainter than the human eye can detect. The centre image, from Aug. 23, shows the supernova at about 10,000 times fainter than the human eye can detect. The right image, from Aug. 24, shows that the event is 6 times brighter than the previous day.

This supernova, normally triggered by the collapse of a star 21 million light years away from Earth, that actually happened same number of years ago, with its light reaching us on Tuesday and could soon be bright enough to see through a pair of binoculars.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Astronomers just spotted brand-new supernova mere hours after the explosion light had reached earth some 21 million years after the explosion. Thanks to a robotic telescope and some smart computer algorithms. Now they're scrambling to use as many telescopes as possible, on Earth and in space, to observe the star's death throes. New supernovae are not terribly rare, but this one is unique because it is so close and it's of a type that is crucial to astronomical measurements.

"PTF 11kly is getting brighter by the minute," said Peter Nugent, the senior scientist at Berkeley Lab who first spotted the supernova.
"Type Ia supernovae are the kind we use to measure the expansion of the universe. Seeing one explode so close by allows us to study these events in unprecedented detail," said Mark Sullivan, the Oxford University team leader who was among the first to follow up on this detection.
"When you catch them this early, mixed in with the explosion you can actually see unburned bits from the star that exploded: It is remarkable," said Howell.
"That's what our sun will be at the end of its life," he said. "It will have the mass of the sun crammed into the size of the Earth."
"The best time to see this exploding star will be just after evening twilight in the Northern hemisphere in a week or so," said Sullivan. "You'll need dark skies and a good pair of binoculars, although a small telescope would be even better."
"Before that, you'd have to go back to 1972, 1937 and 1572 to find more nearby Type Ia supernovae," said Nugent."

To be able to examine the supernova so early in its life, and so close to Earth has energized the astronomical community. Scientists around the world are scrambling to observe it with as many telescopes as possible, including the Hubble Space Telescope, and telescopes from the UC Santa Barbara-affiliated Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network (LCOGT).

Here are some questions to be addressed

Are we looking at a super nova or is it just a bright star that its light was previously obscured by a dust cloud.
Is spectrum analysis matched by previous examples of a supernova data
With the supernova being so close, can we also examine its affect in time on the nearby stars? Such explosions are bound to disturb the space and time equilibrium in the vicinity of the explosion.
Is the increase in brightness matched by computer modelling of such explosion. LCOGT network of robotic telescopes around the world, with the first three active in Hawaii, Australia, and at the Sedgwick Reserve, near Santa Ynez, Calif. New images of the supernova from Wednesday night –– taken by the Hawaii and Sedgwick telescopes –– showed the supernova had brightened by more than a factor of 20 less than a day after discovery. Is this modest increase in brightness logical? Or should the increase be much faster.

Catching supernovae so early allows a rare glimpse at the outer layers of the supernova, which contain hints about what kind of star exploded. "When you catch them this early, mixed in with the explosion you can actually see unburned bits from the star that exploded: It is remarkable," said Howell. "We are finding new clues to solving the mystery of the origin of these supernovae that has perplexed us for 70 years. Despite looking at thousands of supernovae, I've never seen anything like this before."

For me and my son, we are hoping that with the relative closeness of this supernova means that even amateur astronomers like us will be able to see it in the coming weeks. "The best time to see this exploding star will be just after evening twilight in the Northern hemisphere in a week or so," said Sullivan. "You'll need dark skies and a good pair of binoculars, although a small telescope would be even better." This is assuming that we have a clear night with little cloud that has been a rare event this August in UK.

However, I am sure the Hubble space telescope will be able to best show with highest clarity the event that everyone is talking about. So let’s hope they point the Hubble in the right direction very soon.

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