A very faint core-collapse supernova in M85.
An anomalous transient in the early Hubble-type (S0) galaxy Messier 85 (M85) in the Virgo cluster was discovered by Kulkarni et al. on 7 January 2006 that had very low luminosity (peak absolute R-band magnitude M(R) of about -12) that was constant over more than 80 days, red colour and narrow spectral lines, which seem inconsistent with those observed in any known class of transient events. Kulkarni et al. suggest an exotic stellar merger as the possible origin. An alternative explanation is that the transient in M85 was a type II-plateau supernova of extremely low luminosity, exploding in a lenticular galaxy with residual star-forming activity. This intriguing transient might be the faintest supernova that has ever been discovered.
Pastorello
A
A
Astrophysics Research Centre, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK. a.pastorello@qub.ac.uk
Della Valle
M
M
Smartt
S J
SJ
Zampieri
L
L
Benetti
S
S
Cappellaro
E
E
Mazzali
P A
PA
Patat
F
F
Spiro
S
S
Turatto
M
M
Valenti
S
S