Well, not yesterday. Since the Cigar Galaxy, or M82, is roughly 12 million lightyears from our little hometown planet this supernova likely occurred some, well, 12 million years ago.
Mike Hankey, quoting Star Wars: A New Hope, on his personal blog:
Was yesterday one of those days when you felt a disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced?
Yesterday I took a few photos in New York City. Mike took photos of a distant galaxy experiencing a supernova. He wins.
Do checkout his comparison shot of the Cigar Galaxy from 1 year ago to see how “small” the supernova appears to be. Yet, I’m sure it was really quite something if you had been there.
