Using the Supernova algorithm, this sophisticated telescope records 1,000 dying stars

FLORIDA – Telescope Samuel Oschin, located at Caltech’s Palomar Observatory, is able to classify 1,000 of them supernova due to the explosion of a dying star. This ability was obtained after astronomers of the machine SNIascore algorithm of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

The SNIascore algorithm creates a catalog from data collected by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), the sky surveying instrument attached to the Samuel Oschin Telescope. Since ZTF’s first observation in 2017, the survey has identified thousands of observable supernovae in 2 broad categories.

Type I supernovae have no traces of hydrogen, while type II supernovae are rich in hydrogen, the simplest and lightest element in the universe. The most common form of Type I supernova occurs when a massive star ejects material from other stars that falls to its surface and sets off a thermonuclear explosion.

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SNIascore classifies a certain type of type I cosmic explosion of different origin as a type Ia supernova. This occurs when a dying star explodes and produces such a uniform scattering of light that astronomers call it a “standard candle.”

A type II supernova occurs when a massive star runs out of fuel for nuclear fusion and can no longer sustain itself against gravitational collapse. The telescope is also capable of scanning asteroids racing towards black holes, producing an infinite amount of data each night.

“We needed a helping hand and we know that computers do the work and take a huge load off us,” Caltech astronomer Christoffer Fremling said as quoted by SINDOnews from Space.com on Tuesday (12/13/2022).

The Samuel Oschin telescope. Photo/Caltech Optical Observatories

Every night ZTF tracks events in the sky and objects in space. Then, the collected data is sent to an instrument storage repository called the Spectral Energy Distribution Machine (SEDM).

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SNIascore then worked with SEDM to classify the observed supernovae according to the type Ia class. The ZTF team is building a robust supernova dataset that astronomers can use to study the explosive physics of these powerful stars in greater detail.

“SNIascore classified its first supernova in April 2021. A year and a half later, we hit the cool milestone of 1,000 supernovae. SNIascore is very accurate,” said Fremling.

Fremling added that since April last year, the ZTF team had found that SNIacore had made no mistakes in classifying the supernova. “We now plan to implement the same algorithm with other observing facilities,” Fremling said.

(wib)