Type Ia supernovae are necessary for astronomers considering that they are utilized to determine the growth of deep space. The origin of these explosions has actually remained an open concern. While it is developed that the surge is brought on by a compact white dwarf star that somehow accretes excessive matter from a companion star, the exact procedure and the nature of the progenitor is not understood.
The new discovery of supernova SN 2020eyj is proof the buddy star was a helium star that had actually lost much of its product just prior to the explosion of the white dwarf.
The study, which includes data from Keck Observatorys Low Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (LRIS), is released in the May 17th issue of the journal Nature.
Artist impression of the double star system with a compact white dwarf star accreting matter from a helium-rich donor buddy, surrounded by dirty and dense circumstellar material. It was the interaction of the exploded star and the material left over from this buddy that generated the strong radio signal and the conspicuous helium lines in the optical spectra of SN 2020eyj. Credit: Adam Makarenko/W. M. Keck Observatory
” Once we saw the signatures of strong interaction with the material from the buddy, we tried to likewise identify it in radio emission,” says Erik Kool, a postdoc at Stockholm Universitys Department of Astronomy and lead author of the paper. “The detection in radio is the first one of a Type Ia supernova– something astronomers have actually attempted to do for years.”
Supernova 2020eyj was very first identified by the Zwicky Transient Facility at Palomar Observatory near San Diego where the Oskar Klein Centre at Stockholm University are members.
” The Nordic Optical Telescope on La Palma was basic for following up this supernova,” states Jesper Sollerman, a teacher at Stockholm Universitys Department of Astronomy and co-author of the paper. “As were spectra from the big Keck telescope in Hawaiʻi that immediately revealed the really unusual helium-dominated product around the exploded star.”
” This is clearly a really uncommon Type Ia supernova, however still related to the ones we utilize to measure the growth of the universe,” adds co-author Joel Johansson from the Department of Physics at Stockholm University. “While normal Type Ia supernovae appear to constantly blow up with the same brightness, this supernova informs us that there are several paths to a white dwarf star surge.”
For more on this research, see Radio Signal Reveals Origin of Thermonuclear Supernova Explosion.
Recommendation: “A radio-detected type Ia supernova with helium-rich circumstellar material” by Erik C. Kool, Joel Johansson, Jesper Sollerman, Javier Moldón, Takashi J. Moriya, Seppo Mattila, Steve Schulze, Laura Chomiuk, Miguel Pérez-Torres, Chelsea Harris, Peter Lundqvist, Matthew Graham, Sheng Yang, Daniel A. Perley, Nora Linn Strotjohann, Christoffer Fremling, Avishay Gal-Yam, Jeremy Lezmy, Kate Maguire, Conor Omand, Mathew Smith, Igor Andreoni, Eric C. Bellm, Joshua S. Bloom, Kishalay De, Steven L. Groom, Mansi M. Kasliwal, Frank J. Masci, Michael S. Medford, Sungmin Park, Josiah Purdum, Thomas M. Reynolds, Reed Riddle, Estelle Robert, Stuart D. Ryder, Yashvi Sharma and Daniel Stern, 17 May 2023, Nature.DOI: 10.1038/ s41586-023-05916-w.
By W. M. Keck Observatory
May 28, 2023
Artists rendition of SN 2020eyj, a white dwarf star that went supernova after pulling product from a helium companion star. An uncommon Type Ia supernova has actually been discovered by Stockholm University astronomers. The supernova was triggered by a white dwarf star that pulled helium-rich material from a companion star. Type Ia supernovae are important for astronomers because they are utilized to measure the expansion of the universe. Artist impression of the double star system with a compact white dwarf star accreting matter from a helium-rich donor companion, surrounded by thick and dusty circumstellar product.
Artists rendition of SN 2020eyj, a white dwarf star that went supernova after pulling material from a helium companion star. Credit: Adam Makarenko/W. M. Keck Observatory
An unusual Type Ia supernova has been discovered by Stockholm University astronomers. For the first time, it was spotted in radio waves and showed strong helium emissions. The supernova was set off by a white dwarf star that pulled helium-rich product from a buddy star. This unique finding adds to our understanding of Type Ia supernovae, which are essential for measuring the universes growth.
A team of astronomers led by Stockholm University has discovered an uncommon Type Ia supernova– or atomic supernova– called SN 2020eyj. Not just did they make the very first detection of such a supernova in radio waves, follow-up observations from W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawaiʻi Island also showed strong emission lines of helium.
This marks the very first confirmed Type Ia supernova triggered by a white dwarf star that pulled product from a buddy star with an outer layer consisting mainly of helium; generally, in the uncommon cases where the product stripped from the outer layers of the donor star could be spotted in spectra, this was mainly hydrogen.