Supernova Host Herding

Supernovae are events that occur towards the end of a stars life cycle. There are many different types of supernovae that occur depending on the conditions of the star. What is less known is how the galaxies that host the supernova affect things like where the supernova occurs or maybe the type of supernova. Vice versa, the supernova can also possibly affect the galaxy on a smaller scale by decreasing how quickly new stars are formed.

All the images that you see are a snapshot in time before these supernovae occur. We want to try and figure out if there is anything interesting about the galaxies or systems of galaxies that these supernovae occur in.

All image data was provided by the Pan-STARRS telescopes located on Haleakalā. See here for more information on the Pan-STARRS telescopes.

This project was made with the help of the University of Hawaiʻi Institute for Astronomy.

We are grateful for support from the National Science Foundation (AST-2510993) and the Akamai Workforce Initiative.