Hubble/Keck: Astronomers Find Possible Elusive Star Behind Supernova

[bystander]

Astronomers Find Possible Elusive Star Behind Supernova
NASA | GSFC | STScI | HubbleSite | WM Keck Observatory | 2018 Nov 15

SN 2017ein in NGC 3938 ~ Credit: NASA, ESA, S. Van Dyk (Caltech), and W. Li (UCB)

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Astronomers may have finally uncovered the long-sought progenitor to a specific type of exploding star by sifting through NASA Hubble Space Telescope archival data. The supernova, called a Type Ic, is thought to detonate after its massive star has shed or been stripped of its outer layers of hydrogen and helium.

These stars could be among the most massive known — at least 30 times heftier than our Sun. Even after shedding some of their material late in life, they are expected to be big and bright. So it was a mystery why astronomers had not been able to nab one of these stars in pre-explosion images.

Finally, in 2017, astronomers got lucky. A nearby star ended its life as a Type Ic supernova. Two teams of astronomers pored through the archive of Hubble images to uncover the putative precursor star in pre-explosion photos taken in 2007. The supernova, catalogued as SN 2017ein, appeared near the center of the nearby spiral galaxy NGC 3938, located roughly 65 million light-years away.

This potential discovery could yield insight into stellar evolution, including how the masses of stars are distributed when they are born in batches. ...

Astronomers Find Picture of Hefty Star Before it Blew Up
California Institute of Technology | 2018 Nov 15

SN 2017ein and the Possible First Identification of a Type Ic Supernova Progenitor ~ Schuyler D. Van Dyk et al

• Astrophysical Journal 860(2):90 (2018 Jun 20) DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/aac32c
  arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1803.01050 > 02 Mar 2018 (v1), 09 May 2018 (v2)

A Potential Progenitor for the Type Ic Supernova 2017ein ~ Charles D. Kilpatrick et al

• Monthly Notices of the RAS 480(2):2072 (Oct 2018) DOI: 10.1093/mnras/sty2022
  arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1808.02989 > 09 Aug 2018

[Ann]

How fascinating!!!

The progenitor of 2017ein was clearly a bluish star, so it was a blue (super)giant that exploded, just like the Sanduleak something star that exploded to become SN 1987A.

But the progenitor of 2017ein was also located right next to a very non-blue source. Could that non-blue source be a brilliantly bright red supergiant, or maybe a reddened background galaxy?

I don't expect you to answer that, bystander, even though you have shown some superior astronomy sleuthing skills. I'm just musing and speculating, which is fun in itself.

Ann