Super discovery
Posted Jan 4, 2011 05:18:53 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
FREDERICTON – Kathryn Aurora Gray says she doesn’t plan to make a career out of astronomy when she grows up.
The 10-year-old Fredericton girl might want to reconsider after becoming the youngest person to ever discover a supernova.
Gray has identified a previously unseen exploding star to better the previous record by four years.
The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada confirmed the discovery yesterday, saying the exploding star was found in a galaxy 240 light-years from Earth.
Gray says she was excited to make the discovery Sunday in images sent to her father by an astronomer in Nova Scotia.
The Grade 5 student says she couldn’t sleep that night as she waited for the discovery to be confirmed.
Supernovas are stellar explosions that signal the violent deaths of stars several times more massive than our sun.
