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The letters SN, a year and a letter code.
Also known as: Supernova naming, SN 1987A style designation
The designation of a supernova, giving the year of discovery and a sequential letter code.
Designates a supernova by year of discovery and a sequential letter.
Contexts: History
Switches from capital to double lower-case letters after the twenty-sixth of a year, a change that used to be rare and is now routine because surveys find hundreds annually.
Contexts: History
Two capital letters, a four-figure year and one or more letters, capital for the first twenty-six of a year and lower-case thereafter.