Supernova Spectroscopy and Host Galaxy Studies

Astrophysical transients are objects in the night sky that rapidly brighten and fade, and represent some of the most explosive events in the Universe such as the death of stars as supernovae. We are following up transients newly discovered by the SkyMapper telescope in order to determine their type and distance, and thereby classify the diverse nature of these events in order to better understand our dynamic Universe. Supernovae are the explosive deaths of stars that rapidly brighten and fade over the course of weeks to months. We are actively classifying new supernovae and studying the galaxies in which they are found in order to better understand these rare and transient events.