They say lightning never strikes twice. But for Ipswich amateur astronomer Brendan Downs, a celestial phenomenon of a different kind has earned him notoriety for the second time. About 1.30am on May 23, Mr Downs discovered a supernova (an exploding star) in a galaxy called Pava, "tens of millions of light years away". Read more
The magnitude 17.3 Type Ib/c supernova, 2010dc, was discovered on the 22nd May, 2010, by Brendan Downs (UK), in the galaxy IC 4854 in the constellation Pavo. The supernova is located 27" West and 9" North from the center of the galaxy.