DECam captures supernova SN 2026ahvu

noirlab_noirlab2628b November 12th, 2026

Credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA Acknowledgment: PIs: G. Narayan & T. Murphey (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) Image processing: M. Zamani & D. de Martin (NSF NOIRLab)

Newly discovered supernova SN 2026ahvu is seen here in the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 1433. The supernova appears as a very bright point of light to the right and slightly below the center of the galaxy. This image was captured by the U.S. Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera (DECam), mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), a Program of NSF NOIRLab. Caught early and still approaching its expected maximum brightness, SN 2026ahvu gives astronomers a valuable opportunity to study a stellar explosion as it unfolds. NSF NOIRLab is coordinating observations across the facilities it operates, working with its partners to maximize scientific return, and inviting other observatories to join the effort. This image was taken a few days after the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) first detected SN 2026ahvu on 2 November 2026. The final composite also includes observations taken between 2013 and 2018.

Provider: NOIRLab

Image Source: https://noirlab.edu/public/images/noirlab2628b/

Curator: NSF's NOIRLab, Tucson, AZ, USA

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License