Dr Horace Smith will discuss: The summer of 2011 saw two supernova explosions in nearby star systems. At the end of May, one star exploded in the spiral galaxy M51, also known as the Whirlpool Galaxy. In late August, a second star exploded in M101, the Pinwheel Galaxy . Both exploding stars became bright enough to see in small telescopes, but the type of explosions was different in each case. The supernova in M51 might mark the death of a massive star. The supernova in M101 might indicate the death of a low mass star in a binary star system. What do we know, suspect, and not know at all about these relatively nearby stellar explosions?

Location:	Abrams Planetarium [map]
Price:	free
Sponsor:	Department of Physics Astronomy
Contact:	Mary Gowans gowans@msu.edu 517-355-4676
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