Celestial hemisphere:  Northern  ·  Constellation: Ursa Major (UMa)  ·  Contains:  M 101  ·  NGC 5447  ·  NGC 5449  ·  NGC 5450  ·  NGC 5451  ·  NGC 5453  ·  NGC 5455  ·  NGC 5457  ·  NGC 5461  ·  NGC 5462  ·  NGC 5471  ·  NGC 5477  ·  PGC 2464645  ·  PGC 2468609  ·  PGC 2468675  ·  PGC 2469762  ·  PGC 2471644  ·  PGC 2816075  ·  Pinwheel galaxy  ·  SS UMa
Supernova SN2023ixf in Messier 101: Before and After, Paul Macklin
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Supernova SN2023ixf in Messier 101: Before and After

Supernova SN2023ixf in Messier 101: Before and After, Paul Macklin
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Supernova SN2023ixf in Messier 101: Before and After

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Description

As luck would have it, I was imaging Messier 101 just before the new supernova SN 2023ixf hit, so I was able to capture it before and after. 

On May 16, 2023, the supernova was not evident on 5 hours of 3 min stacked exposures. 

On May 20, 2023, even 3-minute exposures on a 115mm refractor showed a brilliant blue-white supernova! 

I tried to process both "before" and "after" as similarly as possible.

Press appearances: 
* Included in EarthSky's selected user submissions [link]
* To appear in Fifth Star Lab's Sky Guide
* Appeared in New Scientist [link]
* Appeared in an ExtendedForecast story (without credit, grumble grumble). [link]

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Supernova SN2023ixf in Messier 101: Before and After, Paul Macklin