Published May 10, 2010 | Version v1
Journal article

ON THE PROGENITOR AND EARLY EVOLUTION OF THE TYPE II SUPERNOVA 2009kr

  • 1. Astrophysics Research Center, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queens University Belfast, BT7 1NN (United Kingdom)
  • 2. Tuorla Observatory, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Turku, Vaeisaelaentie 20, FI-21500 Piikkioe (Finland)
  • 3. Oskar Klein Centre, Department of Astronomy, AlbaNova, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm (Sweden)
  • 4. Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100 Rehovot (Israel)
  • 5. INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell'Osservatorio 5, IT 35122 Padova (Italy)
  • 6. Oxford Astrophysics, Department of Physics, Denys Wilkinson Building, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH (United Kingdom)
  • 7. INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Via G.B. Tiepolo 11, IT 34131 Trieste (Italy)
  • 8. Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen (Denmark)
  • 9. Max-Planck-Institut fuer Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 1, 85741 Garching bei Muenchen (Germany)
  • 10. INAF, Osservatorio Astronomico di Catania, Via S.Sofia 78, 95123 Catania (Italy)

Description

We identify a source coincident with SN 2009kr in Hubble Space Telescope pre-explosion images. The object appears to be a single point source with an intrinsic color V - I = 1.1 ± 0.25 and MV = -7.6 ± 0.6. If this is a single star, it would be a yellow supergiant of log L/L sun ∼ 5.1 and a mass of 15+5-4 M sun. The spatial resolution does not allow us yet to definitively determine if the progenitor object is a single star, a binary system, or a compact cluster. We show that the early light curve is similar to a Type IIL SN, but the prominent Hα P-Cygni profiles and the signature of the end of a recombination phase are reminiscent of a Type IIP. The evolution of the expanding ejecta will play an important role in understanding the progenitor object.

Availability note (English)

Available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/714/2/L280

Additional details

Identifiers

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Astrophysical Journal Letters
Journal Volume
714
Journal Issue
2
Journal Page Range
p. L280-L284
ISSN
2041-8205