Sky & Telescope - January 2024 - 84

SEAN WALKER / S&T
FOCAL POINT by Scott Harrington
A Surprising Second Chance
The universe gave the author a gift that made him reflect on an earlier, uncertain observation.
AT AGE 17, just three years after I fell
head over heels into astronomy, I got to
see a supernova in Messier 101, the Pinwheel
Galaxy. It was my first supernova
and, little did I know at the time, an
exceptionally bright one. But I'm getting
ahead of myself, because I wouldn't
know for sure I'd seen it . . . for another
7½ years.
On September 23, 2011, I learned
of a Type Ia supernova in M101 (SN
2011fe). The Palomar Transient Factory
survey had discovered it a month
earlier, and it had reached a peak magnitude
of 9.9 in mid-September. Two
days after I learned of the supernova,
the evening sky was clear, and I went
searching for it using my late grandfather's
pre-computerized, 10-inch
Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope.
My hopes of seeing it were high
despite my having only used his telescope
off and on for less than two years.
That evening, I spent more time observing
M101 with the scope than I had any
other deep-sky object previously. I got
the galaxy into the main field without
much trouble, but knowing where to
look for the imposter " star " proved to
be much harder than I'd anticipated.
I was struggling to line up the few
photos I had of the supernova in the
galaxy to what I was seeing at the eyepiece
- something that I still struggle
with when it comes to M101. I kept
my chin up, however, and sketched the
entire field, adding an arrow indicating
which point of light I thought was the
supernova. A week later, I looked again,
but the star I'd arrowed on my drawing
didn't seem to have dimmed, as it
should have if it were the exploded star.
This made me skeptical as to whether
I'd truly seen my first supernova.
In early 2019, I stumbled upon S&T
Contributing Editor Howard Banich's
impressive sketch of M101 (S&T:
June 2013, p. 38). When I noticed
he'd labeled it on his drawing, I was
reminded of my possible supernova
sighting. For fun, I pulled out my old
It was an emotional
experience that nearly
brought me to tears.
sketch. When I compared the two, I was
shocked to find that I had drawn the
supernova - it just wasn't the star I'd
labeled as such!
My only regret then was that I hadn't
seen the supernova in handheld binoculars.
I doubted I'd ever get to accomplish
such a feat, too, since supernovae that
bright are usually in even brighter galaxies
and/or too close to their cores.
At least, that was my feeling up
until May 19th of last year, when M101
belched out its fifth recorded supernova.
Within 36 hours of its discovery
by Japanese amateur Kōichi Itagaki, I
was able to easily spot the new Type II
supernova (SN 2023ixf) in the same
telescope I'd used the last time. On that
night and successive ones, I observed
it as well in my 12×60 binoculars, 4.5′
from the galaxy's core.
It was an emotional experience.
SN 2023ixf
Getting to see a supernova not only in
handheld binoculars but in the same
galaxy in which I'd seen my first one a
dozen years earlier nearly brought me
to tears. It reminded me of just how far
I've come and how much better I am at
finding things in the vastness of space
we call the universe.
Taken with a 4-inch refractor on the night of May 24, 2023, this image of M101 shows the supernova
designated SN 2023ixf at peak brightness.
84 JANUARY 2024 * SKY & TELESCOPE
¢ Contributing Editor SCOTT HARRINGTON
is no longer losing sleep over
the next Milky Way supernova.

Sky & Telescope - January 2024

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