Kathryn Aurora Gray, a fifth-grader from Fredericton, New Brunswick, spotted the magnitude 17 supernova about 240 million light-years away in galaxy UGC 3378 in the constellation Camelopardalis, the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada said.
Her discovery was verified by astronomers in Illinois and Arizona and confirmed by the International Astronomical Union.
Supernovas are stellar explosions signaling the violent deaths of stars several times more massive than our sun, the society said. They are extremely bright, but the sight won't last forever.
"It's just a blowing up of stars, so eventually it will fade away," Kathryn told the Daily Gleaner. "I was very excited to find one."
Kathryn found the supernova on images collected by family friend David Lane with a telescope in Halifax, the Daily Gleaner said. Lane sent the images to Kathryn and her dad, Paul Gray, who started examining them Sunday using special computer software that allows users to compare old and new images of star fields.
"Kathryn pointed to the screen and said: 'Is this one?' I said yup, that looks pretty good," her father told the Star.
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Before Kathryn, the youngest person to discover a supernova was 14.The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada also credits Paul Gray and Lane for the discovery. This supernova, dubbed 2010lt, is the seventh supernova Gray has discovered, Lane's fourth, and Kathryn's first.
"It's fantastic that someone so young would be passionate about astronomy. What an incredible discovery. We're all very excited," Deborah Thompson, the society's executive director, told the Star.
Kathryn said she plans to keep looking for supernovas, but she doesn't plan to be a professional astronomer. She wants to be a teacher when she grows up.
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