At Mt Pinos we where all visually looking at this supernova with Newtonian's and Dobs. (thanks John, Jerry and Don for sharing!) Visually this supernova is brighter than the galaxy's core! Since I was running the Hyperstar rig, I went after this with my 102GT, focal length 709mm. 21.4 SQM. L = 27 x 300, R 13x300, G 13x300, B 10x300
Thinking about all the elements on earth and in us... "We're made of star stuff," - Carl Sagan. Simply put, all elements up to iron, Fe 26, are created in a star's furnaces. When some massive stars burn all their fuel, a sudden gravitational collapse of the core triggers a "explosion" and in turn a shock wave which creates heavy elements including gold and uranium. (interesting article
here) The expanding shock waves can also trigger the formation of new stars. Over and over again for 13.77 billion years! Earth formed at just the right time in the age of the universe to have all too perfect the amount of elements for life, but we are here as proof.
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