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More details of super-bright supernova released

Light of a supernova that is not lensed appears dimmer and as a single image (bottom). From the same point of view on Earth, the lensed supernova's light would appear brighter and as four distinct images (top), as shown in this illustration.

Surhud More,Kavli IPMU; Images of galaxies: ESA, NASA Hubble Heritage project, SDSS

By Ashley Yeager

In January, astronomers announced that a super-bright supernova called PS1-10afx was actually the light of the supernova magnified by the gravity of a galaxy in front of it. More details about the cosmic magnifying lens appear in the April 25 Science. 

About Ashley Yeager

Ashley Yeager is the associate news editor at Science News. She has worked at The Scientist, the Simons Foundation, Duke University and the W.M. Keck Observatory, and was the web producer for Science News from 2013 to 2015. She has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a master’s degree in science writing from MIT.

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