Who had a Supernova in the night sky in their bingo list for 2020.....

[sunonmars]

Link to tweet

We've just found new supernova candidate AT2020nlb in galaxy Messier85. @fallingstarIfA ATLAS telescope Mauna Loa, Hawaii spotted it few hours ago, data processed
@QUBelfast. This is big nearby galaxy, just the 55 million lightyrs away. Young explosion, didn't see it 2 days ago.

When this supernova happened, dinosaurs had already been extinct for over 10 million years. And this supernova is just outside the limit of 50 million light years that most scientists agree is probably the distance at which, if it were any closer, we’d probably already be dead.👍🏽

[coti]

1. There was speculation months ago Betelgeuse would supernova

It's 642 light years away, but there was little concern we'd be in danger if it did.

[sunonmars]

2. I love this astronomy stuff.

[cbdo2007]

3. Yeah this one is in another galaxy...so we are about

50 million light years away from it doing us any harm lol. Kind of sensationalist stuff there. Most people would t even be able to find M85 with a small scope.

[NutmegYankee]

4. Well, Kepler's 1604 Supernova was 20,000 light years away.

[MoonlitKnight]

5. Didn't have that one on my card

https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/supernove-distance

“ Scientific literature cites 50 to 100 light-years as the closest safe distance between Earth and a supernova.”

https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012-supernova.html

“Astronomers estimate that, on average, about one or two supernovae explode each century in our galaxy. But for Earth's ozone layer to experience damage from a supernova, the blast must occur less than 50 light-years away. All of the nearby stars capable of going supernova are much farther than this.”

[matt819]

6. So...

When did this happen if we’re seeing it now? It’s hard to get my head around this stuff.

[ret5hd]

7. 55 million yrs ago