SN 2014J

Coordinates: 9h 55m 42.217s, +69° 40′ 26.56″

SN 2014J

First image: Messier 82 on 10 December 2013. Second image: The same view on 22 January 2014. The position of the supernova is marked.
Observation data (Epoch J2000)
Supernova type Type Ia
Host galaxy Messier 82
Constellation Ursa Major
Right ascension 9h 55m 42.217s[1]
Declination 69° 40′ 26.56″[1]
Discovery date 21 January 2014
University of London Observatory
Distance 11.5 ± 0.8 Mly (3.5 ± 0.3 Mpc)[2]
Physical characteristics
Progenitor unknown
Notable features Closest Type Ia for 40 years

SN 2014J is a type-Ia supernova in Messier 82 (the 'Cigar Galaxy', M82) discovered in mid-January 2014.[3] It is the closest type-Ia supernova discovered in the past 42 years. It was discovered by chance during an undergraduate teaching session at University of London Observatory. SN 2014J is the subject of an intense observing campaign by professional astronomers, and was bright enough to be seen by amateur astronomers. On 31 January 2014 SN2014J stopped brightening, reaching its peak brightness at magnitude 10.5.[4]

Discovery

University of London Observatory, where SN 2014J was discovered.

The supernova was discovered by astronomer Steve Fossey, of University College London. Fossey was training four undergraduate students (Ben Cooke, Guy Pollack, Matthew Wilde and Thomas Wright) to use a small 0.35-metre (14 in) telescope at University of London Observatory, located in Mill Hill, north London.[5][6][7]

The discovery was serendipitous, because Fossey was not searching for supernovae and only wanted to take advantage of a short gap in the London cloud cover. He later said that "The weather was closing in, with increasing cloud, so instead of the planned practical astronomy class, I gave the students an introductory demonstration of how to use the CCD camera on one of the observatory’s automated 0.35–metre telescopes."[6]

At 19:20 GMT on 21 January 2014, Fossey and his students noticed a bright new star in their images of the galaxy Messier 82, also known as the Cigar Galaxy.[6] After comparing their image to archival ones of the same galaxy, they used observations with a second telescope to eliminate the possibility of an instrumental artefact.[7] Their discovery was reported to the International Astronomical Union's Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, who confirmed that they were the first to spot the supernova and assigned it the name SN 2014J as the tenth supernova discovered in 2014.[6]

Observations

Follow-up adaptive optics observations with the 10-metre (390 in) Keck telescope at Mauna Kea Observatory, Hawaii were used to precisely determine the location of the new supernova.[1] The first optical spectrum was obtained using the 3.5-metre (140 in) ARC telescope in New Mexico, which showed the supernova to be of Type Ia.[8] Pre-discovery recovery images were found that showed the supernova as early as 15 January, six days before discovery.[9]

Early indications were that the supernova had been discovered approximately 14 days before maximum light, so it would get brighter over the following fortnight.[8] The supernova was expected to be bright enough to be visible with binoculars throughout the Northern Hemisphere,[5] and to be a popular target for amateur astronomers because it is located close to The Plough asterism (the 'Big Dipper') and visible all night for most Northern Hemisphere observers.[10][11]

SN 2014J is the subject of intense follow-up observations by astronomers worldwide,[7] including with the Hubble Space Telescope.[12]

Distance

At a distance of 11.5 ± 0.8 million light-years (3.5 ± 0.3 megaparsecs),[2] SN 2014J is one of the closest supernovae seen in recent decades. It is the closest type Ia supernova since SN 1972E,[10] and the closest supernova of any type since 2004. Some sources initially stated that SN 2014J was the closest supernova of any type since SN 1987A,[5] but this claim is erroneous.[10] The last supernova that was unambiguously closer to Earth than SN 2014J was SN 2004dj, a type II-P supernova in the galaxy NGC 2403. SN 1993J was a type IIb supernova at almost the same distance as SN 2014J, because it was located in Messier 81, which belongs to same group of galaxies as Messier 82.[6]

Properties

Observations of the diffuse interstellar bands in the spectrum of the supernova indicate that it lies behind a significant quantity of interstellar medium in M82. The supernova therefore suffers interstellar extinction, with a reddening of at least one magnitude.[13]

The relative closeness of the supernova allows astronomers to study it in much more detail than usual. Type Ia supernovae are especially important as standard candles in physical cosmology, and astronomers hope that SN 2014J will help them understand how these supernovae form and evolve.[7] The degree of light extinction from M82 dust blocking SN 2014J reduces its value as an observational prototype for Type Ia supernovae, but makes it a powerful probe of the interstellar medium of M82.[14]

Researchers used archival images from the Hubble Space Telescope to study the environment of SN 2014J prior to the supernova, hoping to identify the progenitor system.[15] The progenitor star has not been identified,[16] and may never be identified because the progenitors of type Ia supernovae were expected to be white dwarfs in binary systems,[17] and observation of SN 2014J provided empirical confirmation for this.[18] The white dwarf is too faint to detect at the distance of M82. The companion of the white dwarf, on the other hand, would have been detectable if it had been a bright evolved giant star, but will remain too faint if it is a second white dwarf (the double degenerate Type Ia supernova path), a lower main-sequence star, or even on the fainter part of the giant sequence.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Tendulkar, S. P.; Liu, M. C.; Dupuy, T. J.; Ca, Y. (23 January 2014). "Near-IR Adaptive Optics Localization of PSN J09554214+6940260". Astronomers Telegram 5789: 5789. Bibcode:2014ATel.5789....1T. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  2. 1 2 Karachentsev, I. D.; Kashibadze, O. G. (2006). "Masses of the local group and of the M81 group estimated from distortions in the local velocity field". Astrophysics 49 (1): 3–18. Bibcode:2006Ap.....49....3K. doi:10.1007/s10511-006-0002-6.
  3. ↑ "Supernova SN 2014J". Observation Logbook. Carleton University. 22 January 2014. Retrieved 27 January 2014. This is the closest type Ia supernova observed in the last 40 years.
  4. ↑ http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/home/Bright-Supernova-in-M82-241477661.html
  5. 1 2 3 "Nearby supernova dazzles astronomers". BBC News. 23 January 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2014. the closest supernova to Earth that has been seen in decades
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 "Supernova in Messier 82 discovered by UCL students" (Press release). University College London. 22 January 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Lucas, Laursen (22 January 2014). "Supernova erupts in nearby galaxy". Nature News. doi:10.1038/nature.2014.14579. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  8. 1 2 Cao, Y.; Kasliwal, M. M.; McKay, A.; Bradley, A. (22 January 2014). "Classification of Supernova in M82 as a young, reddened Type Ia Supernova". Astronomers Telegram 5786: 5786. Bibcode:2014ATel.5786....1C. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  9. ↑ Ma, Bin; Wei, Peng; Shang, Zhaohui; Wang, Lifan; Wang, Xiaofeng (23 January 2014). "Prediscovery Observations of SN 2014J in M82 from the Antarctic Survey Telescope". Astronomers Telegram 5794: 5789. Bibcode:2014ATel.5794....1M. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  10. 1 2 3 MacRobert, Alan (22 January 2014). "Bright Supernova in M82". Sky & Telescope. Retrieved 27 January 2014. this is said to be the nearest supernova since 1972 of Type Ia
  11. ↑ King, Bob (22 January 2014). "Bright New Supernova Blows Up in Nearby M82, the Cigar Galaxy". Universe Today. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
  12. ↑ Foley, Ryan (24 January 2014). "HST Observations of SN 2014J". Astronomers Telegram 5811: 5789. Bibcode:2014ATel.5811....1F. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  13. ↑ Cox, Nick; Davis, P.; Patat, F.; Van Winckel, Hans (23 January 2014). "High-resolution spectroscopy of SN2014J in M82". Astronomers Telegram 5797: 5789. Bibcode:2014ATel.5797....1C. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  14. ↑ Ritchey, Adam M.; Welty, Daniel E.; Dahlstrom, Julie A.; York, Donald G. (2015). "Diffuse Atomic and Molecular Gas in the Interstellar Medium of M82 toward SN 2014J". The Astrophysical Journal 799 (2): 197. arXiv:1407.5723. Bibcode:2015ApJ...799..197R. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/799/2/197.
  15. ↑ Goobar, A.; Johansson, J.; Amanullah, R.; Fossey, S. J.; et al. (2014). "The discovery of SN2014J in the nearby starburst galaxy M82". arXiv:1402.0849 [astro-ph.GA].
  16. ↑ Kelly, Patrick L.; Fox, Ori D.; Filippenko, Alexei V.; Cenko, S. Bradley; et al. (2014). "Constraints on the Progenitor System of the Type Ia Supernova 2014J from Pre-Explosion Hubble Space Telescope Imaging". The Astrophysical Journal 790: 3. arXiv:1403.4250. Bibcode:2014ApJ...790....3K. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/790/1/3.
  17. ↑ Mazzali; Röpke; Benetti; Hillebrandt (2007). "A Common Explosion Mechanism for Type Ia Supernovae". Science 315 (5813): 825–828. arXiv:astro-ph/0702351. Bibcode:2007Sci...315..825M. doi:10.1126/science.1136259. PMID 17289993.
  18. ↑ Drake, Nadia (28 August 2014). "Type 1a Supernovae: Why Our Standard Candle Isn’t Really Standard". National Geographic.
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