Bibcode
Van Dyk, S. D.; Lee, Janice C.; Anderson, Jay; Andrews, Jennifer E.; Calzetti, Daniela; Bright, Stacey N.; Ubeda, Leonardo; Smith, Linda J.; Sabbi, Elena; Grebel, Eva K.; Herrero, A.; de Mink, Selma E.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 806, Issue 2, article id. 195, 9 pp. (2015).
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6
2015
Journal
Citations
11
Refereed citations
9
Description
We have discovered a luminous light echo around the normal Type
II-Plateau Supernova (SN) 2012aw in Messier 95 (M95; NGC 3351), detected
in images obtained approximately two years after explosion with the Wide
Field Channel 3 on board the Hubble Space Telescope by the Legacy
ExtraGalactic Ultraviolet Survey. The multi-band observations span from
the near-ultraviolet through the optical (F275W, F336W, F438W, F555W,
and F814W). The apparent brightness of the echo at the time was
∼21–22 mag in all of these bands. The echo appears circular,
although less obviously as a ring, with an inhomogeneous surface
brightness, in particular, a prominent enhanced brightness to the
southeast. The SN itself was still detectable, particularly in the
redder bands. We are able to model the light echo as the time-integrated
SN light scattered off of diffuse interstellar dust in the SN
environment. We have assumed that this dust is analogous to that in the
Milky Way with {R}V=3.1. The SN light curves that we consider
also include models of the unobserved early burst of light from the SN
shock breakout. Our analysis of the echo suggests that the distance from
the SN to the scattering dust elements along the echo is ≈ 45 pc. The
implied visual extinction for the echo-producing dust is consistent with
estimates made previously from the SN itself. Finally, our estimate of
the SN brightness in F814W is fainter than that measured for the red
supergiant star at the precise SN location in pre-SN images, possibly
indicating that the star has vanished and confirming it as the likely SN
progenitor.
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Sergio
Simón Díaz