After thousands of years, scientist have made significant progress towards predicting a supernova. Predicting a supernova on Earth does not predict when the supernova actually exploded in the past. It simply forecasts when the exploding remains will be visible on Earth. To find when the remains will be visible on Earth, you need to find an intense gamma ray burst in the night sky. Read on to learn more.
Instructions
1. Find time at an astronomy observatory. Coordinate when in advance since time is precious in an observatory. Your observatory should be located somewhere far away from an urban area to eliminate light pollution.
2. Use the equipment at the observatory to find a gamma ray burst. There is approximately one gamma ray burst every night.
3. Track the intensity of the gamma ray burst afterglow. Although the gamma ray burst only lasts a few seconds, the afterglow of a gamma ray burst will last for several minutes afterwards.
4. Coordinate with other observatories to see if they detected the same gamma ray burst that you found. Sharing data is always best because it will reduce errors in the data.
5. Research other gamma ray bursts observed in published scientific works. Your goal is to determine whether the intensity of your gamma ray burst is unusually large.
6. Make a prediction of when the supernova will be visible on Earth. Predicting a supernova is relatively new to scientists. Therefore, it may be unrealistic to predict an actual date.
7. Publish your work in an astronomical journal. If you have never been published before, you may to partner up with another author that has been published before.
Tags: gamma burst, visible Earth, will visible, will visible Earth, been published