SOUTHLAND : Student, 19, Discovers Supernova
<i> From Times wire services</i>
Celina Mikolajczak, a 19-year-old engineering student, has discovered a supernova, or exploding star, in a spiral galaxy more than 800 trillion billion miles from Earth, Caltech said today.
The 1987 graduate of Coronado High School in San Diego made the discovery while examining photographic films taken on the 18-inch Schmidt telescope at Palomar Observatory northeast of San Diego.
Caltech spokesman Robert Finn said Mikolajczak was looking for comets and asteroids as part of a summer program in which undergraduates conduct research under faculty supervision.
The supernova, designated SN 1989N, is the 14th discovered this year and is much too dim to be seen by the naked eye.
