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Delta Astronomy Photograph Published
A rare photograph of a distant supernova taken by Professors Brien Dunn and Don Wheeler of Louisiana Delta Community College was published in Understanding Our Universe, a new college level astronomy textbook released this past autumn. The supernova, an exploding star named 2005cs, occurred in galaxy Messier (M) 51 in the Big Dipper some 37 million years ago. Because of the immense distance between M51 and earth, it took that amount of time before the light from the explosion could reach our world. Dunn and Wheeler along with Brad Farrington of the Ouachita Valley Astronomy League were fortunate enough to take the pair of pre- and post-supernova photographs so close together. The actual supernova was discovered by a German amateur astronomer, Wolfgang Kloehr, in June of 2005. “Our photograph was taken in early August of 2005,” said Wheeler. He added, “At the time, we did not know the supernova had occurred and it was just luck we were photographing M51 that night.” Farrington had photographed the same galaxy a few months earlier in March which showed no supernova. The two photographs were published on Delta’s science website, www.ladeltascience.com, where it was noticed by authors of the textbook. This is the second college level astronomy textbook in which Dunn and Wheeler have had a celestial photograph published. According to Professor Dunn, "We have a blast at these viewing parties which often last into the wee hours of the morning. Numerous technical challenges require constant attention and a true team-effort. Hundreds of shots might yield only a few of this quality."
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