1. The Type II-plateau Supernova 2017eaw in NGC 6946 and Its Red Supergiant Progenitor
- Author
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S. P. Littlefair, Ori D. Fox, Benjamin T. Jeffers, Ian J. M. Crossfield, Sanyum Channa, Andrew W. Howard, Thomas de Jaeger, Edward Falcon, Alexei V. Filippenko, Sameen Yunus, Keto Zhang, WeiKang Zheng, Anthony L. Piro, Sahana Kumar, Sundar Srinivasan, Richard Wilson, V. S. Dhillon, Timothy Butterley, Brody Conner, Dan Milisavljevic, Jennifer E. Andrews, Douglas C. Leonard, Samantha Stegman, Julia Hestenes, Molly R. Kosiarek, Schuyler D. Van Dyk, Patrick L. Kelly, Viktoriya Morozova, Justyn R. Maund, Thomas G. Brink, Nathan Smith, Howard Isaacson, Timothy W. Ross, and Knox S. Long
- Subjects
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE) ,Physics ,Photosphere ,010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,Astrophysics::High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,Metallicity ,Extinction (astronomy) ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Astronomy and Astrophysics ,Astrophysics::Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics ,Astrophysics ,01 natural sciences ,Supernova ,Spitzer Space Telescope ,Space and Planetary Science ,Target of opportunity ,0103 physical sciences ,Astrophysics::Solar and Stellar Astrophysics ,Spectral energy distribution ,Red supergiant ,Astrophysics::Earth and Planetary Astrophysics ,Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena ,010303 astronomy & astrophysics ,Astrophysics::Galaxy Astrophysics ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences - Abstract
We present extensive optical photometric and spectroscopic observations, from 4 to 482 days after explosion, of the Type II-plateau (II-P) supernova (SN) 2017eaw in NGC 6946. SN 2017eaw is a normal SN II-P intermediate in properties between, for example, SN 1999em and SN 2012aw and the more luminous SN 2004et, also in NGC 6946. We have determined that the extinction to SN 2017eaw is primarily due to the Galactic foreground and that the SN site metallicity is likely subsolar. We have also independently confirmed a tip-of-the-red-giant-branch (TRGB) distance to NGC 6946 of 7.73+/-0.78 Mpc. The distances to the SN that we have also estimated via both the standardized candle method and expanding photosphere method corroborate the TRGB distance. We confirm the SN progenitor identity in pre-explosion archival Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and Spitzer Space Telescope images, via imaging of the SN through our HST Target of Opportunity program. Detailed modeling of the progenitor's spectral energy distribution indicates that the star was a dusty, luminous red supergiant consistent with an initial mass of ~15 Msuns., Appearing in ApJ
- Published
- 2019
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