THE MASSIVE PROGENITOR OF THE TYPE II-LINEAR SUPERNOVA 2009kr

Journal Article · Mon May 10 04:00:00 EDT 2010 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/714/2/L254· OSTI ID:21448840

Elias-Rosa, Nancy; Van Dyk, Schuyler D ^[1]; Weidong, Li; Miller, Adam A; Silverman, Jeffrey M; Ganeshalingam, Mohan; Filippenko, Alexei V; Steele, Thea N; Bloom, Joshua S; Griffith, Christopher V; Kleiser, Io K. W. ^[2]; Boden, Andrew F; Kasliwal, Mansi M ^[3]; Vinko, Jozsef ^[4]; Cuillandre, Jean-Charles ^[5]

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1. Spitzer Science Center, California Institute of Technology, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
2. Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411 (United States)
3. Division of Physics, Math, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
4. Department of Optics and Quantum Electronics, University of Szeged, Dom ter 9, Szeged H-6720 (Hungary)
5. Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Corporation, 65-1238 Mamalahoa Hwy, Kamuela, HI 96743 (United States)

We present early-time photometric and spectroscopic observations of supernova (SN) 2009kr in NGC 1832. We find that its properties to date support its classification as Type II-linear (SN II-L), a relatively rare subclass of core-collapse supernovae (SNe). We have also identified a candidate for the SN progenitor star through comparison of pre-explosion, archival images taken with WFPC2 on board the Hubble Space Telescope with SN images obtained using adaptive optics plus NIRC2 on the 10 m Keck-II telescope. Although the host galaxy's substantial distance ({approx}26 Mpc) results in large uncertainties in the relative astrometry, we find that if this candidate is indeed the progenitor, it is a highly luminous (M {sup 0} {sub V} = -7.8 mag) yellow supergiant with initial mass {approx}18-24 M {sub sun}. This would be the first time that an SN II-L progenitor has been directly identified. Its mass may be a bridge between the upper initial mass limit for the more common Type II-plateau SNe and the inferred initial mass estimate for one Type II-narrow SN.

• OSTI ID: 21448840
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Letters Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 714; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
BINARY STARS
ERUPTIVE VARIABLE STARS
EVOLUTION
EXPLOSIONS
GALAXIES
MASS
STAR EVOLUTION
STARS
SUPERNOVAE
TELESCOPES
VARIABLE STARS