Supernova in M82!

A Type Ia supernova has gone off in the very nearby galaxy M82! Details here, from Paul Sutherland at Skymania.

If you're short on time, here's the kicker:

Brad said the supernova appeared to have been caught early and so might brighten to magnitude 8 which would put it easily within the reach of binoculars.

Wow!

Photo by UCL/University of London Observatory/Steve Fossey/Ben Cooke/Guy Pollack/Matthew Wilde/Thomas Wright

Another interesting aspect of this story is that the supernova was discovered by amateurs:

Turns out the #M82 #supernova was missed in automated sky searches by big telescopes because it was so bright it was flagged as foreground!
— Katie Mack (@AstroKatie) January 22, 2014

This could turn out to be a pretty amazing astronomical event.

Update: Here's another nice post about the new supernova, from Phil Plait (aka the Bad Astronomer), with some further links. Latest word on Twitter has an estimate of the peak magnitude:

We now have a light-curve of the M82 supernova, soon-to-be SN 2014I. Explosion between 14 January and 16 January. Will brighten to mag 9.5
— Brad Tucker (@btucker22) January 22, 2014

We know pretty well how these Type Ia supernovae behave over time, so this estimate is likely pretty reliable. Magnitude 9.5 is getting pretty faint for binoculars, unfortunately. But maybe Chamberlin Observatory can take a look for us!

Update 2: Turns out the supernova (now officially named SN 2014J) was not only discovered by amateurs, it was discovered by undergrads! Awesome story here!