An extraordinary star explosion has been detected in a distant galaxy, and astrophotographers are racing to capture it before it fades from view. The supernova, called SN 2026aaiv, was first seen by the ATLAS survey on September 1 in NGC 7331 (also known as Caldwell 30), a spiral galaxy about 45 million light-years away in the constellation Pegasus, visible in the Northern Hemisphere and mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere. That makes this supernova a prime target for astrophotographers and amateur astronomers around the world to capture an image of this rare event. Hundreds of astrophotographers have already captured it, including Andrew McCarthy, who posted his image on Instagram on September 7 with the message: “Luckily, I was in the middle of a massive project with this galaxy and caught the supernova.” It captured four hours of data, two before and two after the supernova, as part of a 100-hour project. “The final image will be EPIC!” said. Tom Masterson, Mountain Operations Manager at Mount Wilson Observatory, also captured it on September 10 using a 60-inch telescope. You might like What you’ll need to find SN 2026aaiv With a magnitude of 15.7 on September 11, 2026, SN 2026aaiv is relatively dim, but still bright. Many of the images posted online were captured with large professional telescopes or remote telescopes in dark regions. However, you can find and photograph SN 2026aaiv with relatively modest equipment. You’ll need a telescope or large binoculars to see NGC 7331 (at magnitude 10), but the supernova is dramatically more visually challenging. For a chance to see SN 2026aaiv, a large telescope is recommended (observers have confirmed seeing it using a 14-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope). Use the averted vision technique: look slightly to one side of the galaxy core so that the eye’s more light-sensitive rods can reveal faint details. The easiest way is to use a smart telescope, which can quickly find and image the host galaxy NGC 7331. According to Seestar (ZWO Official Group) on Facebook, users of the Seestar S50 have managed to image SN 2026aaiv with approximately two hours of 10-second exposures (the default mode). How to find SN 2026aaiv SN 2026aaiv can be found in NGC 7331, near the Great Plaza of Pegasus, just after nightfall in the eastern Northern Hemisphere. (Image credit: Starry Night)SN 2026aaiv has the coordinates RA 22h 37m 05.618s, December +34° 24′ 35.37″. From the northern hemisphere, turn east after dark and you will see four large, bright stars rising in a large diamond shape. This is the Great Plaza of Pegasus, part of the Pegasus constellation. In the northwest corner of the Grand Plaza is Scheat. Just above, outside the plaza, is a fainter star called Matar. NGC 7331 is nearby. According to NASA, in skies with light pollution only the central core of the galaxy is visible. The galaxy, which we see partially edge-on, has spectacular spiral arms that revolve around a bright central region. What we know about SN 2026aaiv SN 2026aaiv is a Type Ia supernova, a catastrophic explosion that occurs when a white dwarf in a binary star system gains enough material from its companion to trigger a runaway thermonuclear reaction, destroying the white dwarf. Surprisingly, another Type Ia supernova, SN 2025rbs, was found in the same galaxy on July 14, 2025. NGC 7331, imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2018, was first found in 1784 by British astronomer William Herschel, who cataloged more than 2,500 deep-sky objects and discovered Uranus and its two largest moons. NGC 7331 is similar in size, shape and mass to the Milky Way.
