Observing supernova 1987A with the refurbished Hubble Space Telescope.
Observations with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), conducted since 1990, now offer an unprecedented glimpse into fast astrophysical shocks in the young remnant of supernova 1987A. Comparing observations taken in 2010 with the use of the refurbished instruments on HST with data taken in 2004, just before the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph failed, we find that the Lyα and Hα lines from shock emission continue to brighten, whereas their maximum velocities continue to decrease. We observe broad, blueshifted Lyα, which we attribute to resonant scattering of photons emitted from hot spots on the equatorial ring. We also detect N v λλ1239, 1243 angstrom line emission, but only to the red of Lyα. The profiles of the N v lines differ markedly from that of Hα, suggesting that the N4+ ions are scattered and accelerated by turbulent electromagnetic fields that isotropize the ions in the collisionless shock.
France
Kevin
K
Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0389, USA.
McCray
Richard
R
Heng
Kevin
K
Kirshner
Robert P
RP
Challis
Peter
P
Bouchet
Patrice
P
Crotts
Arlin
A
Dwek
Eli
E
Fransson
Claes
C
Garnavich
Peter M
PM
Larsson
Josefin
J
Lawrence
Stephen S
SS
Lundqvist
Peter
P
Panagia
Nino
N
Pun
Chun S J
CS
Smith
Nathan
N
Sollerman
Jesper
J
Sonneborn
George
G
Stocke
John T
JT
Wang
Lifan
L
Wheeler
J Craig
JC