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The available historical records of supernovae occurring in our own Galaxy over the past two thousand years are reviewed. These accounts include the well-recorded supernovae of AD1604 (Kepler’s SN), AD1572 (Tycho’s SN), AD1181 AD1054 (which produced the Crab Nebula) and AD1006, together with less certain events dating back to AD185. In the case of the supernovae of AD1604 and AD1572 it is European...
The current classification scheme for supernovae is presented. The main observational features of the supernova types are described and the physical implications briefly addressed. Differences between the homogeneous thermonuclear type Ia and similarities among the heterogeneous core-collapse type Ib, Ic and II are highlighted. Transforming type IIb, narrow line type IIn, supernovae associated with...
We review the most recent estimates of the rate of supernovae and evidence for a link with specific stellar populations. We also compare different estimates of the supernova rate in the Galaxy. The early results and the prospects of supernova searches at high redshift are reported.
Supernova flux and polarization spectra bring vital information on the geometry, physical conditions, and composition structure of the ejected matter. For some supernovae the circumstellar matter is also probed by the observed spectra. Some of this information can be inferred directly from the observed line profiles and fluxes but, because of the Doppler broadening and severe line blending, interpretation...
Photometry is the most easily acquired information about supernovae. The light curves constructed from regular imaging provide signatures not only for the energy input, the radiation escape, the local environment and the progenitor stars, but also for the intervening dust. They are the main tool for the use of supernovae as distance indicators through the determination of the luminosity. The...
We present a review of X-ray observations of supernovae. By observing the (∼ 0.1 − 100 keV) X-ray emission from young supernovae, physical key parameters such as the circumstellar matter density, mass-loss rate of the progenitor, and temperature of the outgoing and reverse shocks can be derived as a function of time. Despite intensive search over the last ∼ 25 years, only 15 supernovae have been detected...
The observations of supernovae made with IUE and HST are reviewed and discussed. The various supernova types are characterized and discussed in the light of their ultraviolet properties. Special emphasis is placed on the results obtained for SN1987A in more than fifteen years of assiduous monitoring with both IUE and HST. It is shown that ultraviolet data have led to the clarification of a number...
Study of radio supernovae over the past 20 years includes two dozen detected objects and more than 100 upper limits. From this work it is possible to identify classes of radio properties, demonstrate conformance to and deviations from existing models, estimate the density and structure of the circumstellar material and, by inference, the evolution of the presupernova stellar wind, and reveal the last...
The explosion of a core-collapse supernova drives a powerful shock front into the wind from the progenitor star. A layer of shocked circumstellar gas and ejecta develops that is subject to hydrodynamic instabilities. The hot gas can be observed directly by its X-ray emission, some of which is absorbed and re-radiated at lower frequencies by the ejecta and the circumstellar gas. Synchrotron radiation...
Over the past decade, supernovae have emerged as some of the most powerful tools for measuring extragalactic distances. A well developed physical understanding of type II supernovae allow them to be used to measure distances independent of the extragalactic distance scale. Type Ia supernovae are empirical tools whose precision and intrinsic brightness make them sensitive probes of the cosmological...
First, I summarize the main points that we have learned about the interior of SN1987A. Then, I describe in greater detail the rapidly developing impact of SN1987A with its inner circumstellar ring.
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