Khalfan Bin Sultan Al Nuaimi, President of the International Astronomy Center, announced a discovery made by Al-Khatim Astronomical Observatory, situated in the Abu Dhabi desert and affiliated with the center. The observatory's Director, Mohammed Odeh, achieved this breakthrough through the ongoing Supernova Search Program initiated on November 26, 2022.
Al Nuaimi elaborated on the observatory's daily operations, which involve capturing a substantial number of galaxy images, sometimes totaling up to 90 galaxies in a single night. Subsequently, the team meticulously compares these new images with archived reference images. Any new celestial object identified in the recent imagery undergoes a rigorous verification process to exclude the possibility of it being an asteroid, a previously cataloged entity, or mere image noise.
“Odeh” mentioned that on the evening of September 8, 2023, after approximately 9 months of continuous monitoring, a bright new star was observed within the galaxy known as NGC 1097, a spiral galaxy situated in the Fornax constellation, approximately 45 million light-years away from Earth. The new star shines with a magnitude of 14. Immediately, the team reported this discovery to the International Astronomical Union, which officially documented the discovery and assigned it the designation "SN 2023rve. Spectroscopic observations were done for the supernova by Claudio Balcon (Belluno A.O. ISSP) in Italy, and it was found to be a Type II supernova. This classification indicates that it was a massive star (at least eight times the mass of the Sun) that reached the end of its life, exploded entirely, and may have transformed into a neutron star or a black hole.
The International Astronomy Center extends its heartfelt thanks and appreciation to the entire observatory team and all those who contributed to this remarkable achievement, including Osama Ghanem, Anas Mohammed, and Sameh Al-Ashi, for their diligent efforts in maintaining and operating the observatory and conducting necessary periodic maintenance.
Al Nuaimi elaborated on the observatory's daily operations, which involve capturing a substantial number of galaxy images, sometimes totaling up to 90 galaxies in a single night. Subsequently, the team meticulously compares these new images with archived reference images. Any new celestial object identified in the recent imagery undergoes a rigorous verification process to exclude the possibility of it being an asteroid, a previously cataloged entity, or mere image noise.
“Odeh” mentioned that on the evening of September 8, 2023, after approximately 9 months of continuous monitoring, a bright new star was observed within the galaxy known as NGC 1097, a spiral galaxy situated in the Fornax constellation, approximately 45 million light-years away from Earth. The new star shines with a magnitude of 14. Immediately, the team reported this discovery to the International Astronomical Union, which officially documented the discovery and assigned it the designation "SN 2023rve. Spectroscopic observations were done for the supernova by Claudio Balcon (Belluno A.O. ISSP) in Italy, and it was found to be a Type II supernova. This classification indicates that it was a massive star (at least eight times the mass of the Sun) that reached the end of its life, exploded entirely, and may have transformed into a neutron star or a black hole.
The International Astronomy Center extends its heartfelt thanks and appreciation to the entire observatory team and all those who contributed to this remarkable achievement, including Osama Ghanem, Anas Mohammed, and Sameh Al-Ashi, for their diligent efforts in maintaining and operating the observatory and conducting necessary periodic maintenance.
Scientists from McDonald Observatory in the state of Texas, United States, have observed the supernova and conducted photometric measurements of it, which can be read a this page.
- Since 2021 until now: Only five supernovae have been brighter than this one, which are: SN 2023ixf, SN 2023fyq, AT 2023ovs, SN 2023bee, SN 2022zut.
- Since 2021 until now: Only two supernovae were brighter than this one at the time of its discovery, which are: SN 2022jli and SN 2021pit.
- As of September 13, 2023, it is the brightest supernova in the sky.
Discovery Report
https://www.wis-tns.org/object/2023rve
"Bright Supernovae" website created a dedicated page for this supernova, which includes the latest photos and news. We recommend visiting this website to see the latest photos and news.
The below image shows the photometric results of the supernova conducted by Al-Khatim Observatory since the supernova discovery, using three filters: I, V, and B. It can be noticed from the graph that the supernova reached its maximum brightness between 14 and 16 September, with a magnitude of 13.7 in (Ic) band.
Discovery Image
GIF for the supernova before and after the discovery
Taken by John Stevenson from Australia on 09 September (Link)
Taken by Eliot Herman from USA using a telescope in Australia on 10 September (Link)
Taken by Anas Sawalha from Irbid, Jordan on 10 September
Taken by Rolando Ligustri from Namibia on 12 September
Taken by Fukui Keiichi from Japan on 13 September (Link)
Taken by John Pickering from New Zealand on 12 September (Link)
