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Tom
Boles’ 125 supernova discoveries Bob Marriott |
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The following shows a few statistics relating to Tom
Boles’ discoveries of supernovae – from his first, on 1997
October 29, to his 125th, on 2009 August 21. Some discoveries were made on
the same date but on different nights, and others were made on the same night
but on different dates. Discovery times have therefore been converted to Greenwich
Mean Astronomical Time, so that each plot on the graph shows the number of
discoveries on one night before and after 00.00 UT. |
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125 discoveries on 105 nights over a
period of 11 years 9 months 23 days |
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Nights
of more than one discovery |
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Discoveries
at each magnitude |
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1999 |
November 6/7 |
2 |
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14.0 |
1 |
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17.3 |
4 |
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2002 |
November 4/5 |
2 |
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14.4 |
1 |
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17.4 |
4 |
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2003 |
February 5/6 |
2 |
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15.2 |
1 |
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17.5 |
5 |
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April 6/7 |
2 |
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15.5 |
2 |
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17.6 |
7 |
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August 19/20 |
4 |
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15.6 |
1 |
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17.7 |
9 |
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2004 |
June 27/28 |
2 |
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15.7 |
1 |
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17.8 |
2 |
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September 7/8 |
2 |
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15.9 |
1 |
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17.9 |
3 |
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November 20/21 |
2 |
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16.0 |
3 |
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18.0 |
6 |
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2005 |
April 10/11 |
2 |
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16.2 |
4 |
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18.1 |
8 |
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2006 |
March 5/6 |
2 |
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16.3 |
2 |
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18.2 |
5 |
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April 3/4 |
2 |
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16.5 |
2 |
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18.3 |
2 |
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2008 |
February 12/13 |
3 |
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16.6 |
4 |
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18.4 |
5 |
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August 2/3 |
3 |
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16.8 |
3 |
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18.5 |
10 |
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2009 |
January 2/3 |
2 |
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16.9 |
4 |
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18.6 |
3 |
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August 20/21 |
3 |
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17.0 |
7 |
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18.7 |
1 |
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17.1 |
6 |
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18.9 |
1 |
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17.2 |
6 |
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19.6 |
1 |
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Totals per year |
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1997 : 1 |
1998 : 1 |
1999 : 4 |
2000 : 1 |
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2001 : 12 |
2002 : 11 |
2003 : 30 |
2004 : 22 |
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2005 : 12 |
2006 : 11 |
2007 : 3 |
2008 : 9 |
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2009 : 8 |
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Discoveries |
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In addition, on 2003 September 17 Tom
Boles discovered a nova (magnitude 18.1) in M31 This list of discoveries, with links
to the images and accompanying information, is also included in Articles/Images See also Tom
Boles’ observatory, including a link to his website |
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On 3 September 2009 the following BAA
E-Bulletin 00437 was issued: |
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It is with great pleasure that we announce that Tom Boles
is now the leading discoverer of supernovae worldwide, with a total of 125
discoveries. This includes all individuals, whether professional or amateur,
who have personally searched for these objects, but excludes all supernovae
discovered via automated surveys. Tom reached this milestone on August 20/21
this year with the discovery of SN2009ij. This
brought Tom’s total to 124, thus surpassing Fritz Zwicky, who
discovered 123 (including one with P. Wild). Zwicky’s first was on 1921
April 6 with SN1921B, and his final discovery was on 1973 April 26 with
SN1973K. Zwicky used a 16-inch Schmidt in his early days and the 48-inch
Oschin Schmidt later. Tom made his first discovery, SN1997dn,
on 1997 October 29, and so overtook Zwicky in less than 12 years; but there
again, Tom now uses three 14-inch telescopes! But this was not enough for
Tom, and another discovery followed with SN2009io
in UGC 11666, although this was actually discovered earlier, on August 13. We
are grateful to Professor Ian Howarth (a former Director of the Variable Star
Section) for initially bringing Tom’s record to our attention. Roger Pickard, President : Stewart
Moore, Director, Deep Sky Section |
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