1. Astrophysics Research Centre, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK
2. Itagaki Astronomical Observatory, Teppo-cho, Yamagata 990-2492, Japan
3. Department of Physics, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 810-8560, Japan
4. INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Vicolo dell'Osservatorio 5, I-35122 Padova, Italy
5. European Southern Observatory (ESO), Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, D-85748 Garching bei München, Germany
6. Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Ferrara, via del Paradiso 12, I-44100 Ferrara, Italy
7. Dipartimento di Astronomia, Università di Padova, Vicolo dell'Osservatorio 2, I-35122 Padova, Italy
8. Nordic Optical Telescope, Apartado 474, E-38700 Santa Cruz de la Palma, Tenerife, Spain
9. Coddenham Astronomical Observatory, Peel House, Coddenham, Suffolk, IP6 9QY, UK
10. Service d'Astrophysique, DSM/DAPNIA/SAp, CE Saclay, F-91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
11. Dipartimento di Scienze della Comunicazione, Università degli Studi di Teramo, Viale Crucioli 122, I-64100 Teramo, Italy
12. National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 20A Datun Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100012, China
13. Centre de Physique des Particules de Marseille, CNRS-IN2P3 and University Aix Marseille II, Case 907, 13288 Marseille Cedex 9, France
14. Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, CNRS, and Université P. et M. Curie, 98bis Bd Arago, F-75014 Paris, France
15. Universidad de La Laguna, Av. Astrofísico Francisco Sánchez s/n, E-38206 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain
16. INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Sezione di Asiago, Via dell'Osservatorio 8, I-36012 Asiago (Vicenza), Italy
17. Fundación Galileo Galilei-INAF, Telescopio Nazionale Galileo, E-38700 Santa Cruz de la Palma, Tenerife, Spain
18. Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 1, D-85741 Garching bei München, Germany
19. INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Via Tiepolo 11, I-34131 Trieste, Italy
20. Computing & Minor Planet Section (Center for Astrodynamics) of the Oriental Astronomical Association, Sumoto, Hyogo-Ken, 656-0011, Japan
21. Department of Physics, Stockholm University, AlbaNova University Center, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden

Correspondence to: A. Pastorello¹ Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to A.P. (Email: a.pastorello@qub.ac.uk).

Abstract

The death of massive stars produces a variety of supernovae, which are linked to the structure of the exploding stars^{1, 2}. The detection of several precursor stars of type II supernovae has been reported (see, for example, ref. 3), but we do not yet have direct information on the progenitors of the hydrogen-deficient type Ib and Ic supernovae. Here we report that the peculiar type Ib supernova SN 2006jc is spatially coincident with a bright optical transient⁴ that occurred in 2004. Spectroscopic and photometric monitoring of the supernova leads us to suggest that the progenitor was a carbon-oxygen Wolf–Rayet star embedded within a helium-rich circumstellar medium. There are different possible explanations for this pre-explosion transient. It appears similar to the giant outbursts of luminous blue variable stars (LBVs) of 60–100 solar masses⁵, but the progenitor of SN 2006jc was helium- and hydrogen-deficient (unlike LBVs). An LBV-like outburst of a Wolf–Rayet star could be invoked, but this would be the first observational evidence of such a phenomenon. Alternatively, a massive binary system composed of an LBV that erupted in 2004, and a Wolf–Rayet star exploding as SN 2006jc, could explain the observations.

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