New Bright and Blue Supernova in NGC 1365

By Nancy Atkinson - November 13, 2012 at 2:10 PM UTC | Extragalactic
NGC1365-and-Supernova-SN2012fr-LRGB-2071x1679-X3.jpg

Supernova 2012fr in NGC 1365. It is the bright blue "star" directly below the galaxy core. Credit: Rolf Wahl Olsen. Click the image for larger version.

A very bright supernova has shown up in NGC 1365, the galaxy also known as the Great Barred Spiral Galaxy, visible now for southern hemisphere observers. This already elegant galaxy lies about 56 million light-years away in the constellation Fornax. The supernova, a type Ia, was discovered by Alain Klotz with the TAROT telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile on October 27, 2012. "The supernova is a very nice addition to the already highly photogenic galaxy," said Rolf Wahl Olsen, who took the gorgeous image above. "I'm amazed by how blue it is; it's really intense."

Supernova 2012fr is the bright and intensely blue star directly below the galaxy core. Olsen said that as of November 10, 2012 the supernova appeared to be nearing its peak, with an R magnitude of 11.90.

"To get an idea of how bright this event is we can calculate the absolute magnitude M of the supernova using the following formula where m is the apparent magnitude and D the distance in parsecs: M = m - 5(log10(D) - 1)," Olsen wrote. "This gives an absolute magnitude of -19.27 for SN2012fr. This means that if the supernova had occurred at a distance to us similar to Betelgeuse (643 light years), then its apparent magnitude would be -12.80, same as the full Moon!"

Details about Olsen's image: Date: 7th and 9th November 2012 Exposure: LRGB: 205:57:56:51m, total 6hrs 9mins @ -30C Telescope: 10" Serrurier Truss Newtonian f/5 Camera: QSI 683wsg with Lodestar guider Filters: Astrodon LRGB E-Series Gen 2 Taken from his observatory in Auckland, New Zealand

See more of Olsen's astrophotography at

his Flickr page.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com