Galaxy NGC 3404 & Supernova 2008bt

An 11 minute exposure with an STL-1301E CCD camera thru Kopernik's 20-inch F/8.1 Ritchey Chretien Cassegrain telescope. The field of view is about 13x16 arc minutes, with North at the top.

Time: 2:30 UT, May 1st, 2008.

Supernova 2008bt:

Discovered: April 13th, 2008, by the Lick Observatory Supernova Search Team, and independently by Koichi Itagaki, of Japan.

• Magnitude 16.5 at discovery
• Type Ia
• The supernova is about magnitude 16.3 in the Kopernik image.

Follow this Link to a NASA Web site on supernovas. It has a very nice animation and a description of what these objects are.

Galaxy NGC 3404:

NGC 3404 is in the constellation of Hydra. A rough distance estimate for this galaxy is 221 million light years, and at that distance, the diameter would be 135,500 light years. This is a very elongated galaxy that is seen nearly edge-on. Although the type is uncertain astronomers usually consider it to be a barred spiral galaxy. It is also classified as IC 2609.

• NGC 3403
• Magnitude: 14.0
• Constellation: Hydra
• RA: 10h 50m 18.1s
• Dec: -12° 06' 31" Epoch 2000
• Size (mins): 2.1' x 0.5'
• Classification: SBab? Sp Barred Spiral (uncertain), spindle shaped (edge-on).
  

George Normandin, KAS

May 1st, 2008