ALL IN A FAMILY – YOUNGEST TO DISCOVER SUPERNOVA BEATING HIS SISTERS RECORD

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A 10-year-old boy in Nova Scotia has become the youngest person to discover a supernova, beating his sister’s record. Nathan Gray spotted the possible exploding star on Wednesday night.Nathan is just 33 days younger than his sister, Kathryn, who was the youngest supernova discoverer back in 2010. Their father Paul held the title of the youngest co-discoverer in 1995 at age 22, when he found a supernova with Lane at the Burke-Gaffney Observatory.

ALL IN A FAMILY – YOUNGEST TO DISCOVER SUPERNOVA BEATING HIS SISTERS RECORD

News4kid.com – Article

kind of excited inside, really excited and kind of happy that I found one and knowing that I’m able to maybe find another one sometime,” he said, mentioning that he had been trying to find one for the last six month. Nathan has found a few supernovas before, but never one that wasn’t previously discovered.Lane says they now need to wait for the confirmation by the International Astronomical Union which can take some time. He said with many supernovas being discovered across the world, not all supernovas are selected to be designated. “We don’t know whether they’ll pick ours or not. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

ALL IN A FAMILY – YOUNGEST TO DISCOVER SUPERNOVA BEATING HIS SISTERS RECORD

News4kid.com – Article

Process of identifying a SupernovaNathan and his sister analyze images of hundreds of galaxies as part of a project with family friend and astronomer David Lane. Lane decides which galaxies are photographed. The images are then uploaded to a website that the Grays compare new images to older images to see if any new objects have appeared.But first it will need to be designated by the International Astronomical Union, and that can take some time, if it happens at all, said Lane.

ALL IN A FAMILY – YOUNGEST TO DISCOVER SUPERNOVA BEATING HIS SISTERS RECORD

News4kid.com – Article

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