Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

On May 19th 2023 a supernova was spotted in the Pinwheel Galaxy by Japanese Astronomer Koichi Itagaki. This galaxy is also known as Messier Object 101 and is ~21 million light years away. The supernova has been dubbed SN 2023ixf and appears to be a Type II (core collapse) supernova, however it is still early in the analysis. The image below was taken on the evening of May 24th using a luminance filter (clouds rolled in before I could get images using R,G,B filters ). Although the Moon is starting to get bright making deep sky imaging more difficult, I hope to acquire more images to create a full color image in the next few days along with the Ha data. (all questions comments and suggestions are welcome.

For those interested this image was taken with a Meade LX 200 16 inch Schmidt Cassegrain with a focal length of 4064mm using an ASI 6200MM pro monochrome camera with 1x1 binning, the gain set to 100 and the temperature set to -12C. The image was made using 36 luminance subframes, each 3 minutes long as well as appropriate Bias, Flat and Dark frames.

SN 2023ixf

(Download)

Blurryeyed Loc: NC Mountains.

Amazing, I briefly had a Celestron 10" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope but looking in to setting it up for photography was more than I wanted to take on so I sold it. Good on you for going that extra mile.

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Hi Blurryeyed
Thanks for checking out the image of supernova SN 2023ixf and for the comment. I've been slowly getting better at taking Astro photos as I learn how to best process and take the subframes (It is a fun learning experience).

profbowman Loc: Harrisonburg, VA, USA

Itr is amazing that you were able to caqpture the galaxy so clearly and the supernova on top of it all. Congrats!! --Richard

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Hi profbowman
Thanks for viewing the image of the Supernova and for the comment. That evening the sky was fairly steady allowing for ~1/2 arcsecond RMS guiding which allowed for a fair amount of detail even though the contrast wasn't great due to a lot of thin high clouds and moon light. Normally I like to go for deep sky when it is closer to new moon but the sometimes the clouds dictate when I can shoot. Tonight is looking clear so I hope to get some Red, Green and Blue images to beable to put together a full color image even though the moon will be first quarter. If the sky holds for the next night I plan to get some narrow band HA images to add to the red which isn't affected much by the moon light.

LoisCroft Loc: Jonesborough, Tennessee

Excellent work. I look forward to more images.

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Hi LoisCroft
Thanks for viewing the Supernova image and for the comment. Last night I was able to get the Red, Green, and Blue filter shots and will hopefully have them put together sometime tomorrow.

LoisCroft Loc: Jonesborough, Tennessee

That is great! Can’t wait to see your results.

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

Nicely done! It is a bright one

bwa

Ballard Loc: Grass Valley, California

Hi bwa
Thanks for checking out the image of the Supernova in M101. I have the RGB shots taken and will send out an updated image tomorrow. Unfortunately the skies are clouding up tonight and are not expected to clear for at least a week so I won't be able to get any Ha data.