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Spot the supernova

Rodney Pommier, taken from Portland, Oregon

Roughly 40 million years ago near the core of the spiral galaxy NGC 7331, a white dwarf star ended its life in a thermonuclear explosion. The light from that explosion was detected July 14 by the Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer project. This astroimager acquired the shot on the left last year with 11.5 hours of exposure with a 17-inch f/6.8 scope. The image on the right incorporates an additional four hours of exposure taken Aug. 21, showing the supernova, now named SN2025rbs, as a dot appearing just to the right of the galaxy’s core.