Deer hunters abound in the Methow Valley, home of the Dharma Project. One technique to attract game is to leave a salt lick and wait. That is exactly what is so compelling about astrophotography; I set my sights on a spot in the sky and wait patiently for the light to appear. The bonus this time: I captured a supernova (SN 2025rbs) in the core of the main galaxy, NGC 7331.
This region is affectionately called the Deer Lick Group. NGC 7331 is the “Salt Lick,” and the four tiny galaxies huddled around it are “The Fleas.” On the far right of the frame, you’ll see a separate, famous cluster: Stephan’s Quintet. While they look close together, they are just photobombing the scene. Stephan’s Quintet lies about 290 million light-years away, while NGC 7331 is “only” 40 million light-years distant. We are looking through a staggering 250 million light-years of intergalactic void between them.
The supernova is visible if you zoom into the core of NGC 7331. This was a Type Ia supernova, a thermonuclear explosion of a white dwarf that briefly outshines its entire galaxy. Astronomers study these “standard candles” to determine the Hubble Constant—the rate at which the universe is expanding. These are transient events that dim quickly, so I was lucky to have enough clear nights to bag it. These explosions also disperse the heavy elements—like the iron in your blood and the calcium in your bones—into space to be recycled into new worlds.
The “smog” or dust you see throughout the frame isn’t part of that distant void. It is Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN), faint clouds of gas and dust within our own Milky Way. Because the exposure was so long, I was able to capture this dust being illuminated by the collective glow of our galaxy’s disk.
Like deer hunting, chasing the stars takes patience and focus. I think I got an eight-pointer with this shot, and my trophy is a picture I can hang on the wall instead of a set of antlers!