Visualizing Supernovae Locations and Distances

Rubin Observatory will detect about 100,000 Type Ia supernovae during the first ten years of its survey. Type Ia supernovae are best used to measure distances from 10 - 3300 Mly. Using Type Ia supernovae, astronomers are able to more accurately map the distances to galaxies in this range. Making precise determinations of galactic distances refines our understanding of how galaxies are distributed in the Universe, and provides better insights into how the Universe is expanding and the nature of dark matter and dark energy.

The dots on the map below show the locations of Type Ia supernovae  (data from Zwicky Transient Facility) out to a distance of about 6100 Mly. The supernovae locations are plotted relative to the Milky Way galaxy, which is located across the horizontal plane of the map, centered on 0 degrees. You may notice that there is a large area with no dots. Since Rubin Observatory is a ground based telescope, so it cannot observe every part of the Universe from its location. The large area with no dots is the part of the Universe that Rubin cannot observe.

The histogram shows the number of supernovae at different distances from the Milky Way galaxy. Note that you can step through the data set to see the distribution of supernovae at different distances from the Milky Way galaxy.

Your supernovae appear as three colored dots on this map.