Backyard Observatory and Supernova Search
Who are we?
We are an amateur collaboration of 6 friends from Australia and New Zealand who have worked together since mid-2008 to search, discover, record, and report new supernovae in the southern sky.
The BOSS team halted all searches in early 2023 due to the ongoing weather pattern in Australia and New Zealand. In early 2024, a team from the SAS resurrected the BOSS website, continuing the legacy and effort of the BOSS team.
Picture: PGC64029 | Discovered: 3 Sept 2021 | Mag: 16.8 | Discovered by: Marples, Bock, Pearl
Our Goal
Our goal is to provide accurate and reliable discovery reports to the International Astronomical Union (IAU) through the Transient Name Server (TNS) https://www.wis-tns.org/ for further investigation by Professional Astronomers and their resources. As of January 1, 2016 the Transient Name Server is the official IAU mechanism for reporting new astronomical transients such as supernova candidates.
Prior to 2016 reports were sent to The Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams - CBAT operated at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University, Massachusetts, USA
This Website provides information about Supernova hunting and the BOSS group discoveries. We hope you enjoy your visit. Please contact us with any comments.
Picture: The original members of the BOSS team.
From Left-Pat Pearl(absent), Stu Parker, Greg Bock, Peter Marples, Colin Drescher, Brendan Downs