Sen. Mikulski to have supernova named after her

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) will have a supernova and an archive named after her on Thursday.

“I am proud to be the namesake of the archives at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which are the enduring legacy of Hubble and will allow us to peer even further into the origins of the universe after the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope," Mikulski said in a statement. 

Mikulski, the chairwoman of the Senate Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations subcommittee, is a longtime supporter of space exploration and the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is located in Baltimore and houses the Hubble telescope.

Last year, the senator attended the groundbreaking of a space telescope exhibit in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and secured an additional $530 million for the James Webb Space Telescope that will be housed at the institute.

“In celebration of Sen. Mikulski’s career-long achievements, and particularly this year, becoming the longest-serving woman in U.S. congressional history, we sought NASA’s permission to establish the senator’s permanent legacy to science by naming the optical and ultraviolet data archive housed here at the Institute in her honor,” said Institute director Matt Mountain in a statement.

The supernova is 7.4 billion light-years away. Supernova Mikulski was found through the Hubble Space Telescope on Jan. 25.

The archives will be called the Barbara A. Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes.

— This post was updated at 10:34 a.m.