Abstract
FABIAN et al.1 and Joss et al.2 have proposed that the progenitor of supernova 1987A was a relatively faint binary companion of the blue supergiant Sk –69°202 (ref. 3). Here we propose another, class of models for SN1987A, wherein Sk–69°202 was the progenitor, but where the presupernova evolution of this star was strongly influenced by the accretion of matter from a companion star which was initially the more massive star. Binary stellar evolution calculations show that a model of this type can naturally explain why the apparent progenitor was a blue supergiant rather than a red one. The system becomes unbound after the supernova event, and the presence of a normal or neutron-star companion will probably be revealed a few years after the explosion. A model of this type can explain all the major observational features of SN1987A and also provides plausible explanations for many of its anomalies.
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Podsiadlowski, P., Joss, P. An alternative binary model for SN1987A. Nature 338, 401–403 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1038/338401a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/338401a0
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