Search

We present Hubble Space Telescope (HST)Wide Field Camera 3UVand near-IR (nIR) imaging of 21 Superluminous Supernovae (SLSNe) host galaxies, providing a sensitive probe of star formation and stellar mass within the hosts. Comparing the photometric and morphological properties of these host galaxies with those of core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) and longduration gamma-ray bursts (LGRBs), we find SLSN hosts are fainter and more compact at both UV and nIR wavelengths, in some cases we barely recover hosts with absolute magnitude aroundMV≈-14.With the addition of ground based optical observations and archival results, we produce spectral energy distribution fits to these hosts, and show that SLSN hosts possess lower stellar mass and star formation rates. This is most pronounced for the hydrogen deficient Type-I SLSN hosts, although Type-II H-rich SLSN host galaxies remain distinct from the bulk of CCSNe, spanning a remarkably broad range of absolute magnitudes, with ~30 per cent of SLSNe-II arising from galaxies fainter than MnIR ~-14. The detection of our faintest SLSN hosts increases the confidence that SLSNe-I hosts are distinct from those of LGRBs in star formation rate and stellar mass, and suggests that apparent similarities in metallicity may be due to the limited fraction of hosts for which emission line metallicity measurements are feasible. The broad range of luminosities of SLSN-II hosts is difficult to describe by metallicity cuts, and does not match the expectations of any reasonable UV-weighted luminosity function, suggesting additional environmental constraints are likely necessary to yield hydrogen rich SLSNe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the highest resolution, wide-field radio survey of a nearby face-on star-forming galaxy to date. The multiphase centre technique is used to survey the entire disc of M51 (77 arcmin²) at a maximum resolution of 5 mas on a single 8 h pointing with the European Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) Network at 18 cm. In total, 7 billion pixels were imaged using 192 phase centres that resulted in the detection of six sources: the Seyfert nucleus, the supernova SN 2011dh, and four background AGNs. Using the wealth of archival data available in the radio (Multi-Element Radio Linked Interferometer Network and the Very Large Array), optical (Hubble Space Telescope) and X-rays (Chandra) the properties of the individual sources were investigated in detail. The combined multiwavelength observations reveal a very complex and puzzling core region that includes a low-luminosity parsec scale core-jet structure typical of AGNs, with evidence for a lateral shift corresponding to 0.27c. Furthermore, there is evidence for a fossil radio hotspot located 1.44 kpc from the Seyfert nucleus that may have resulted from a previous ejection cycle. Our study provides measures of the supernova and star formation rates that are comparable to independent studies at other wavelengths, and places further limits on the radio and X-ray luminosity evolution of the supernovae SN 1994I, SN 2005cs and SN 2011dh. The radio images of background AGN reveal complex morphologies that are indicative of powerful radio galaxies, and confirmed via the X-ray and optical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), a wide field reflecting telescope that would survey the sky frequently to create vast amount of data to various astronomers and research universities. Topics include need for appropriate tools and facilities like smaller telescopes to analyse and investigate the LSST data, government agency, National Research Council's (NRC) strategies, need for computing resources, online portal creation, and Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS).