CHANDRA OBSERVATIONS OF SN 1987A: THE SOFT X-RAY LIGHT CURVE REVISITED

Journal Article · Sun Feb 10 04:00:00 EST 2013 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/764/1/11· OSTI ID:22167063

Helder, E. A.; Broos, P. S.; Burrows, D. N. ^[1]; Dewey, D. ^[2]; Dwek, E. ^[3]; McCray, R. ^[4]; Park, S. ^[5]; Racusin, J. L. ^[6]; Zhekov, S. A. ^[7]

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1. Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)
2. MIT Kavli Institute, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)
3. Observational Cosmology Laboratory, Code 665, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
4. JILA, University of Colorado and NIST, 440 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309 (United States)
5. Department of Physics, University of Texas at Arlington, Box 19059, Arlington, TX 76019 (United States)
6. NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 661, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
7. Space Research and Technology Institute, Akad. G. Bonchev str., bl.1, Sofia 1113 (Bulgaria)

We report on the present stage of SN 1987A as observed by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. We reanalyze published Chandra observations and add three more epochs of Chandra data to get a consistent picture of the evolution of the X-ray fluxes in several energy bands. We discuss the implications of several calibration issues for Chandra data. Using the most recent Chandra calibration files, we find that the 0.5-2.0 keV band fluxes of SN 1987A have increased by {approx}6 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup -13} erg s{sup -1} cm{sup -2} per year since 2009. This is in contrast with our previous result that the 0.5-2.0 keV light curve showed a sudden flattening in 2009. Based on our new analysis, we conclude that the forward shock is still in full interaction with the equatorial ring.

• OSTI ID: 22167063
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 764; ISSN ASJOAB; ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
CALIBRATION
DIAGRAMS
INTERACTIONS
KEV RANGE 01-10
SOFT X RADIATION
SUPERNOVA REMNANTS
SUPERNOVAE