NGC 2146 - Barred Spiral Galaxy in the Constellation Camelopardalis

NGC 2146 Barred Spiral Galaxy in the Constellation Camelopardalis. Credit: COAST Robotic Telescope - Mount Teide Tenerife Open University-telescope.org 

"It has a diameter of 80,000 light years  The galaxy's most conspicuous feature is the dusty lanes of a spiral arm lying across the core of the galaxy as seen from Earth, the arm having been bent 45 degrees by a close encounter with a smaller galaxy possibly NGC 2146a about 0.8 billion years ago. This close encounter is credited with the relatively high rates of star formation that qualify NGC 2146 as a starburst galaxy", Credit : Wikipedia

 Type 11 Supernova SN2018zd in NGC 2146 Barred Spiral Galaxy in the Constellation Camelopardalis. Credit: COAST Robotic Telescope - Mount Teide Tenerife Open University-telescope.org 

Inverted greyscale enlargement showing the Supernova - originally discovered on the 7th March 2018 by Koichi  Itagaki

" Just before Christmas, Pip Stakkert requested that the COAST Robotic Telescope on Mount Teide should take a snap shot of this interesting 'starburst' galaxy and the above image was captured at 3:30 am. on the 26th December 2018. The capture used BVR filters and a single exposure of 3 minutes. 

A Type 11 supernova occurs when a massive star, one with a mass between 8 and fifty times the mass of our sun, undergoes a rapid collapse as gravity overcomes the outward thermal pressure created by the nuclear fusion process at its core and the degeneracy pressure of electrons. The net result of the collapse is a massive explosion that may be seen across the vast distances which separate galaxies.

NGC 2146 is estimated to be a staggering 70 million light years distant from our home galaxy.

This distance equates approximately to to 76,622,511,300,000,000,000,000,000,000 kilometres". - Kurt Thrust acting CEO and current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.