The discussion centers on the detection of the KSN 2011d supernova, specifically focusing on the methods and criteria used by the Kepler telescope in identifying stars that may be on the verge of exploding. The scope includes technical explanations of observational techniques and the unexpected nature of the discovery.
Participants generally agree on the role of the Kepler telescope in detecting the supernova but express differing views on the predictive methods and signs associated with impending supernova events. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the specific criteria used to identify stars likely to explode.
There are limitations in the discussion regarding the assumptions made about the observational data and the definitions of the signs of a supernova. The retrospective nature of the detection is emphasized, but the exact methodology remains unclear.
According to Kepler what are the signs that a star is about to go supernova?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.
Greg Bernhardt said:According to Kepler what are the signs that a star is about to go supernova?
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.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.