Astronomy is special among scientific fields in that amateurs have always been useful.

Astronomy is special among scientific fields in that amateurs have always been useful. Even in today’s era of billion dollar space telescopes and ground-based telescopes that measure in 10s of meters, an 11″ telescope can make a significant contribution by simply pointing in the right direction on the right night.

Originally shared by Dylan O’Donnell

This incredible looking black and white photo of Centaurus A galaxy is special. The arrow is pointing to a star that has just died, exploding into a supernova. This has just happened in the last 4-6 days and will brighten for a while, then disappear in the coming weeks. The last time this happened in this galaxy was 1986! The people who found this are a small group of backyard astronomers in QLD Australia who scan and compare dozens of galaxies each night. Peter Marples discovered this Supernova with his 11″ consumer telescope and now big telescopes and scientists are analyzing the event.

I spent $24 to rent time on a remote telescope in Australia that is 29 times more powerful than mine to take a single image and show you a dying star. When I learned about its discovery yesterday I was suprised to see an Instagram friend @tony_jov had imaged it from his backyard the same night it was discovered! I saw it in his feed and let him know – he caught a stars early onset dying outburst by sheer chance! In his colour version you can see it has a red glow. #supernova #bossteam #amateur #astronomy #sidingsprings #t27 #planewave #cdk #universetoday #astrophotography