B How was the KSN 2011d Supernova Detected?

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The KSN 2011d supernova was detected by the Kepler telescope, which primarily searches for exoplanets by measuring the brightness of stars every 30 minutes. Researchers analyzed the Kepler database for rapid increases in brightness, which led to the unexpected discovery of the supernova. While Kepler's main goal is to identify subtle dimming caused by transits, the sudden brightness of a supernova would be easily noticeable. The detection was considered a lucky event due to the telescope's narrow field of view. The discussion also highlights the positive impact of NASA's STEM program on engaging students in space science.
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It was caught by the Kepler telescope. Kepler measures the brightnesses of hundreds of thousands of stars simultaneously every 30 minutes in the search for exoplanet transits. This finding was an unexpected bonus.
 
phyzguy said:
It was caught by the Kepler telescope. Kepler measures the brightnesses of hundreds of thousands of stars simultaneously every 30 minutes in the search for exoplanet transits. This finding was an unexpected bonus.
According to Kepler what are the signs that a star is about to go supernova?
 
Greg Bernhardt said:
According to Kepler what are the signs that a star is about to go supernova?

I'm not sure. I think they just combed through the Kepler database looking for very rapid increases in brightness. I don't think they predicted this star would go supernova - they witnessed it after the fact.
 
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phyzguy said:
I'm not sure. I think they just combed through the Kepler database looking for very rapid increases in brightness. I don't think they predicted this star would go supernova - they witnessed it after the fact.
During the last summer I got my granddaughter involved with NASA's stem program for Middle through High school. She was fortunate enough to get assigned the senior lead programmer for Kepler at Ames research as her mentor, I in turn was fortunate enough to get a chance to ask questions about Kepler and learned that the way they search for exoplanets is to watch for very subtle dimming of star light that occurs during transits by planets. The sudden flash of a supernova would be impossible for them to miss. Considering the relatively narrow field that they scan at a time catching the supernova was very lucky but once it occurred in the data it would have shown up like a flashbulb.
another upside to the NASA STEM program is that now my granddaughter is "mentoring" classmates in her schools own STEM program.
 

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