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Title: THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CIRCUMSTELLAR RING OF SN 1987A

Abstract

We present imaging and spectroscopic observations with Hubble Space Telescope and Very Large Telescope of the ring of SN 1987A from 1994 to 2014. After an almost exponential increase of the shocked emission from the hotspots up to day ∼8000 (∼2009), both this and the unshocked emission are now fading. From the radial positions of the hotspots we see an acceleration of these up to 500–1000 km s{sup −1}, consistent with the highest spectroscopic shock velocities from the radiative shocks. In the most recent observations (2013 and 2014), we find several new hotspots outside the inner ring, excited by either X-rays from the shocks or by direct shock interaction. All of these observations indicate that the interaction with the supernova ejecta is now gradually dissolving the hotspots. We predict, based on the observed decay, that the inner ring will be destroyed by ∼2025.

Authors:
; ; ; ;  [1];  [2]; ;  [3]; ;  [4];  [5]; ;  [6];  [7];  [8];  [9];  [10];  [11];  [12];  [13] more »; « less
  1. Department of Astronomy, The Oskar Klein Centre, Stockholm University, Alba Nova University Centre, SE-106 91 Stockholm (Sweden)
  2. KTH, Department of Physics, and the Oskar Klein Centre, AlbaNova, SE-106 91 Stockholm (Sweden)
  3. Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia, P.O. Box 400325, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4325 (United States)
  4. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, MS-19, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States)
  5. Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, 392 UCB, Boulder, CO 80309 (United States)
  6. European Southern Observatory, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse, 2, D-85748 Garching bei München (Germany)
  7. Department of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-3411 (United States)
  8. School of Mathematics and Physics, Queens University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN (United Kingdom)
  9. Finnish Centre for Astronomy with ESO (FINCA), University of Turku, Väisäläntie 20, FI-21500 Piikkiö (Finland)
  10. Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, 933 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)
  11. Department of Astronomy, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712-0259 (United States)
  12. Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory, Columbia University, 550 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027 (United States)
  13. 25 Nieuwland Science, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556-5670 (United States)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22518959
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Astrophysical Journal Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 806; Journal Issue: 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 2041-8205
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; ACCELERATION; EMISSION; SHOCK WAVES; SPACE; SUPERNOVAE; TELESCOPES; VELOCITY; X RADIATION

Citation Formats

Fransson, Claes, Migotto, Katia, Lundqvist, Peter, Taddia, Francesco, Sollerman, Jesper, Larsson, Josefin, Pesce, Dominic, Chevalier, Roger A., Challis, Peter, Kirshner, Robert P., France, Kevin, Leibundgut, Bruno, Spyromilio, Jason, McCray, Richard, Jerkstrand, Anders, Mattila, Seppo, Smith, Nathan, Wheeler, J. Craig, Crotts, Arlin, Garnavich, Peter, and others, and. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CIRCUMSTELLAR RING OF SN 1987A. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/806/1/L19.
Fransson, Claes, Migotto, Katia, Lundqvist, Peter, Taddia, Francesco, Sollerman, Jesper, Larsson, Josefin, Pesce, Dominic, Chevalier, Roger A., Challis, Peter, Kirshner, Robert P., France, Kevin, Leibundgut, Bruno, Spyromilio, Jason, McCray, Richard, Jerkstrand, Anders, Mattila, Seppo, Smith, Nathan, Wheeler, J. Craig, Crotts, Arlin, Garnavich, Peter, & others, and. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CIRCUMSTELLAR RING OF SN 1987A. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/806/1/L19
Fransson, Claes, Migotto, Katia, Lundqvist, Peter, Taddia, Francesco, Sollerman, Jesper, Larsson, Josefin, Pesce, Dominic, Chevalier, Roger A., Challis, Peter, Kirshner, Robert P., France, Kevin, Leibundgut, Bruno, Spyromilio, Jason, McCray, Richard, Jerkstrand, Anders, Mattila, Seppo, Smith, Nathan, Wheeler, J. Craig, Crotts, Arlin, Garnavich, Peter, and others, and. 2015. "THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CIRCUMSTELLAR RING OF SN 1987A". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/806/1/L19.
@article{osti_22518959,
title = {THE DESTRUCTION OF THE CIRCUMSTELLAR RING OF SN 1987A},
author = {Fransson, Claes and Migotto, Katia and Lundqvist, Peter and Taddia, Francesco and Sollerman, Jesper and Larsson, Josefin and Pesce, Dominic and Chevalier, Roger A. and Challis, Peter and Kirshner, Robert P. and France, Kevin and Leibundgut, Bruno and Spyromilio, Jason and McCray, Richard and Jerkstrand, Anders and Mattila, Seppo and Smith, Nathan and Wheeler, J. Craig and Crotts, Arlin and Garnavich, Peter and others, and},
abstractNote = {We present imaging and spectroscopic observations with Hubble Space Telescope and Very Large Telescope of the ring of SN 1987A from 1994 to 2014. After an almost exponential increase of the shocked emission from the hotspots up to day ∼8000 (∼2009), both this and the unshocked emission are now fading. From the radial positions of the hotspots we see an acceleration of these up to 500–1000 km s{sup −1}, consistent with the highest spectroscopic shock velocities from the radiative shocks. In the most recent observations (2013 and 2014), we find several new hotspots outside the inner ring, excited by either X-rays from the shocks or by direct shock interaction. All of these observations indicate that the interaction with the supernova ejecta is now gradually dissolving the hotspots. We predict, based on the observed decay, that the inner ring will be destroyed by ∼2025.},
doi = {10.1088/2041-8205/806/1/L19},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22518959}, journal = {Astrophysical Journal Letters},
issn = {2041-8205},
number = 1,
volume = 806,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Jun 10 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Wed Jun 10 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}