Supernova discovery by Filipp Romanov
Amateur astronomer Filipp Romanov discovered his first supernova on February 20, 2022. The supernova has been confirmed by professional astronomers. Here’s the story of Filipp’s discovery in his own words:
For the first time in my life, I discovered a supernova, which was later confirmed by its spectrum. The supernova is designated SN 2022bsi. It is in the galaxy NGC 5902 (in the Boötes constellation), located at a distance of 120 million light-years.
On February 9, 2022, I found a supernova candidate in the images of the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey. The International Astronomical Union added it to the Transient Name Server on the same date.
On February 15, I obtained (by my request) images of this galaxy using remote telescope T21 in Mayhill, New Mexico. It is part of iTelescope.net. I stacked these photos. The supernova event was clearly visible in the stacked image, indicating that it really exists …
The maximum brightness of about 19th magnitude was around February 20-21, 2022. On February 20, 2022, I obtained photos (with luminance filter, by my request) remotely using iTelescope T24 in Sierra Remote Observatory at Auberry, California. The stacked image is shown above.
On February 28, 2022, it was confirmed as a supernova and its type has been classified as SN Ia-91bg-like, according to the result of the analysis of the spectrum that was obtained at the Palomar 60-inch (1.5m) telescope.
A discovery a long time in the making
Filipp is a seasoned amateur astronomer. In the past, he has discovered 80 variable stars, 10 planetary nebulae candidates, three transient objects and four pairs of binary stars. His discovery of a supernova was a long time in the making. As he said:
In August 2020, my discovery of transient (supernova candidate) was faint (fainter than 21st magnitude) AT 2020quo. I found it in the Pan-STARRS images during the International Asteroid Search Campaign (IASC). But this has forever remained only in the status of an astronomical transient, because no one has obtained the spectrum of this object, but photometrically the existence of this has been confirmed by PS1_Bot1 [via the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope, PS1].
Also, in November 2019, I discovered two supernova candidates on digitized photographic plates: AT 1991bm in galaxy UGC 11180 and AT 1992bw in galaxy UGC 43, but they won’t be confirmed as supernovae, so I am glad that the supernova SN 2022bsi has been confirmed by the spectrum.
Bottom line: Filipp Romanov discovered a supernova on February 20, 2022, using the remote iTelescope T24 in California. It’s his first confirmed supernova discovery.
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