Surveys of the transient Universe

Research area

Supernovae, powerful explosions signaling the violent deaths of stars, have been recorded since nearly two thousands years ago by the ancient Chinese astronomers. However, we still do not understand the mechanisms of these explosions. Observationally, a fundamental sample with well-characterized supernovae that are collected in a complete and unbiased fashion is missing. Using a number of wide-field small telescopes distributed around the globe, the "All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae" (ASAS-SN) is conducting a high-cadence, complete survey of bright supernovae and other transients/variables over the entire sky. We are not only producing a systematic census of the full supernova populations, but also discovering objects that are potentially transformative to the field.

Figure: Two of the 14-centimeter diameter lens telescopes in use for the All Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN). Since this photo was taken, two more telescopes have been added to the ASAS-SN station in Cerro Tololo, Chile (Credit: Wayne Rosing).