Supernova in Galaxy NGC 3941

On early Saturday morning I was experimenting with my new camera and decided to image a new supernova in galaxy NGC 3941.  This type Ia supernova was discovered on 2/3/2018 by Masaki Tsuboi and is located 4".1 east and 0".8 north of the center of NGC 3941.  At the time of discovery it was Mag 13.0; I estimated mag 14 when I captured it.

SN 2018pv in NGC 3941
EdgeHD11 f/7 - ASI1600mm Luminance only (40x10sec)
February 17, 2018

To give you an idea of how bright supernovae get, consider that NGC 3941 is a barred lenticular galaxy located in the constellation Ursa Major at a distance of 40 million light years from Earth. The supernova is almost outshining the center halo of the galaxy - one star - almost brighter than the whole collection of millions of stars in the galaxy!  If a star in our own galaxy were to go supernova it would outshine all other objects in the sky except the sun and would be visible in broad daylight. This actually happened back in 1054 AD.

The Crab Nebula (catalogue designations M1, NGC 1952, Taurus A) is a supernova remnant in the constellation of Taurus. The now-current name is due to William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse, who observed the object in 1840 using a 36-inch telescope and produced a drawing that looked somewhat like a crab. Corresponding to a bright supernova recorded by Chinese astronomers in 1054, the nebula was observed later by English astronomer John Bevis in 1731. The nebula was the first astronomical object identified with a historical supernova explosion (wikipedia).