Crab voted best supernova of all time

Expect the retrospectives to come thick and fast over the next few weeks – supernova 1987A is about to celebrate its 20th birthday. But when a 130-strong Stockholm public last night voted for the best supernova of all time, 87A didn’t stand a chance.

This was a public lecture which I got saddled with, but once I’d decided on the title ‘The 10 most amazing (sv: häftigaste) supernovae of all time’, it took on a life of its own. My examples of cool supernova physics became the nominated stars in an unexpected awards gala. Question time was upstaged by a show-of-hands vote – which of the ten exploding stars was the most wow-inducing? There was no doubt about the winner anyway: SN 1054, the supernova that gave us the Crab nebula with its amazing pulsar. Runner-up Geminga, the gamma-ray pulsar that must have given our ancestors a fright 300,000 years ago, made a good showing too.

I’d tipped the universe’s last ever supernova, but it’s a remote prospect, to put it mildly. But most of all it was really enjoyable. Next up: the universe’s 10 coolest galaxies? The 10 scariest black holes? The most fascinating exoplanets? I think we may have stumbled on something fun.

History’s best supernovae, according to 130 astronomy fans in Stockholm.