Larsson, J;
Fransson, C;
Sargent, B;
Jones, OC;
Barlow, MJ;
Bouchet, P;
Meixner, M;
... Wright, GS; + view all
(2023)
JWST NIRSpec Observations of Supernova 1987A—From the Inner Ejecta to the Reverse Shock.
The Astrophysical Journal Letters
, 949
(2)
, Article L27. 10.3847/2041-8213/acd555.
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Abstract
We present initial results from JWST NIRSpec integral field unit observations of the nearby supernova SN 1987A. The observations provide the first spatially resolved spectroscopy of the ejecta and equatorial ring (ER) over the 1–5 μm range. We construct 3D emissivity maps of the [Fe i] 1.443 μm line from the inner ejecta and the He i 1.083 μm line from the reverse shock (RS), where the former probes the explosion geometry and the latter traces the structure of the circumstellar medium. We also present a model for the integrated spectrum of the ejecta. The [Fe i] 3D map reveals a highly asymmetric morphology resembling a broken dipole, dominated by two large clumps with velocities of ∼2300 km s⁻¹. We also find evidence that the Fe-rich inner ejecta have started to interact with the RS. The RS surface traced by the He i line extends from just inside the ER to higher latitudes on both sides of the ER with a half-opening angle ∼45°, forming a bubble-like structure. The spectral model for the ejecta allows us to identify the many emission lines, including numerous H₂ lines. We find that the H₂ is most likely excited by far-UV emission, while the metal-line ratios are consistent with a combination of collisional excitation and recombination in the low-temperature ejecta. We also find several high-ionization coronal lines from the ER, requiring a temperature ≳2 × 10⁶ K.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | JWST NIRSpec Observations of Supernova 1987A—From the Inner Ejecta to the Reverse Shock |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.3847/2041-8213/acd555 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acd555 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © The Author(s), 2024. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| Keywords: | Supernova remnants, Core-collapse supernovae. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Physics and Astronomy |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10191076 |
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