SN 2006gy

High school (ages 12+)
Space & Astronomy

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/sn-2006gy

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. How heavy is SN 2006gy?150-250 solar masses for PISN scenario
2. What is the host galaxy?NGC 1260
3. What is the distance?Approximately 240 million light-years (73.6 Mpc)
4. What was SN 2006gy and why was it so bright?It was a star explosion that was about 100 times brighter than a normal supernova and 10 billion times brighter than the Sun.
5. Where did SN 2006gy happen?It was found in the galaxy NGC 1260, a spiral galaxy far away from Earth.

Pair-Instability Supernova (PISN): A rare supernova type from extremely massive stars where electron-positron pair production triggers a complete detonation.
Absolute Magnitude: A measure of a celestial object's intrinsic brightness, as if it were at a standard distance.
Light Curve: A graph showing how the brightness of a celestial object changes over time.