A STUBBORNLY LARGE MASS OF COLD DUST IN THE EJECTA OF SUPERNOVA 1987A
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT (United Kingdom)
- Observational Cosmology Laboratory Code 665, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
- Department of Astronomy, 475 North Charter Street, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706 (United States)
- Sterrenkundig Observatorium, Universiteit Gent, Krijgslaan 281 S9, B-9000 Gent (Belgium)
- Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)
- Departamento de Astrofísica, Centro de Astrobiología, CSIC-INTA, Ctra. de Torrejón a Ajalvir km 4, E-28850 Madrid (Spain)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803 (United States)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140 (New Zealand)
- The Oskar Klein Centre, Department of Astronomy, Stockholm University, Albanova, SE-10691 Stockholm (Sweden)
- School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 3AA (United Kingdom)
- Koninklijke Sterrenwacht van België, Ringlaan 3, 1180 Brussel (Belgium)
- Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia, P.O. Box 400325, Charlottesville, VA 22904 (United States)
- SUPA, Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom)
- Astrophysics Research Centre, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN (United Kingdom)
- AIM, CEA/Saclay, L'Orme des Merisiers, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France)
We present new Herschel photometric and spectroscopic observations of Supernova 1987A, carried out in 2012. Our dedicated photometric measurements provide new 70 μm data and improved imaging quality at 100 and 160 μm compared to previous observations in 2010. Our Herschel spectra show only weak CO line emission, and provide an upper limit for the 63 μm [O I] line flux, eliminating the possibility that line contaminations distort the previously estimated dust mass. The far-infrared spectral energy distribution (SED) is well fitted by thermal emission from cold dust. The newly measured 70 μm flux constrains the dust temperature, limiting it to nearly a single temperature. The far-infrared emission can be fitted by 0.5 ± 0.1 M {sub ☉} of amorphous carbon, about a factor of two larger than the current nucleosynthetic mass prediction for carbon. The observation of SiO molecules at early and late phases suggests that silicates may also have formed and we could fit the SED with a combination of 0.3 M {sub ☉} of amorphous carbon and 0.5 M {sub ☉} of silicates, totalling 0.8 M {sub ☉} of dust. Our analysis thus supports the presence of a large dust reservoir in the ejecta of SN 1987A. The inferred dust mass suggests that supernovae can be an important source of dust in the interstellar medium, from local to high-redshift galaxies.
- OSTI ID:
- 22364205
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 800, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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