Snapshot Distances to Type Ia Supernovae: All in {open_quotes}One{close_quotes} Night`s Work

Journal Article · Tue Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1998 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1086/306106· OSTI ID:292703

Riess, A G ^[1]; Nugent, P ^[2]; Filippenko, A V ^[1]; Kirshner, R P ^[3]; Perlmutter, S ^[2]

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1. Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411 (United States)
2. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)
3. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)

We present an empirical method that measures the distance to a Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) with a precision of {approximately}10{percent} from a single night`s data. This method measures the supernova`s age and luminosity/light-curve parameter from a spectrum and the extinction and distance from an apparent magnitude and color. We are able to verify the precision of this method from error propagation calculations, Monte Carlo simulations of well-sampled SNe Ia, and the Hubble diagram of sparsely observed supernovae. With the reduction in telescope time needed, this method is 3{endash}4 times more efficient for measuring cosmological parameters than conventional light-curve{endash}based distance estimates. {copyright} {ital {copyright} 1998.} {ital The American Astronomical Society}

• OSTI ID: 292703
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 504, Issue 2; Other Information: PBD: Sep 1998
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

66 PHYSICS
BRIGHTNESS
SUPERNOVAE
COSMOLOGY
LUMINOSITY
DISTANCE
AGE ESTIMATION
MEASURING METHODS
STARS:FUNDAMENTAL PARAMETERS