More than 10,000 supernovae counted in stellar census

Since 2018 the Zwicky Transient Facility, an international astronomical collaboration based at the Palomar Observatory in California, has scanned the entire sky every two to three nights. As part of this mission, the ZTFâs Bright Transient Survey has been counting and cataloguing supernovae â flashes of light in the sky that are the telltale signs of stars dying in spectacular explosions. On Dec. 4, ZTF researchers â including astronomers at the University of Washington â announced that that they have identified more than 10,000 of these stellar events, the largest number ever identified by an astronomical survey.

Featured on UW News