Abstract
It has become clear in the past few years that young supernovae can become rather powerful radio sources at an early stage of their evolution. Three young supernovae have been detected so far: SN1970g in M101 (ref. 1), SN1979c in M100 (ref. 2) and SN1980k in NGC6946 (refs 3,4). The data on these objects and on older supernova remnants suggest that the radio emission turns on between 1 week and 1 yr after the supernova event, and that the supernova continues to be a radio emitter for at least a few years. About 50–100yr later, when the supernova shell has swept up enough interstellar gas, the remnant may become visible again in the radio domain5. Previous searches for radio emission from young supernovae have been based on optically discovered supernovae. However, with the many detailed maps of the radio continuum emission from galaxies now available, it becomes feasible to find supernovae by comparing radio data alone. We report here the appearance of a radio source in the northern, inner spiral arm of NGC4258. Inspection of existing optical data (ref. 6, and W. L. W. Sargent and C. Kowal, personal communication) confirms that this source is a young supernova, making it the first radio detected supernova event.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allen, R. J., Goss, W. M., Ekers, R. D. & de Bruyn, A. G. Astr. Astrophys. 48, 253–261. (1976).
Weiler, K. W. van der Hulst, J. M., Sramek, R. A. & Panagia, N. Astrophys. J. Lett. 243, L151–L156 (1981).
Weiler, K. W., Sramek, R. A. van der Hulst, J. M. & Panagia, N. in Supernovae: A Survey of Current Research, (eds Rees, M. J. & Stoneham, R. J.) 281–291 (Reidel, Dordrecht, 1982).
Weiler, K. W., Sramek, R. A. van der Hulst, J. M. & Panagia, N. in Supernova Remnants and their X-Ray Emissions (eds Danziger, J. & Gorenstein, P. ) 171–176 (Reidel, Dordrecht, 1983).
Gull, S. F. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc. 161, 47–69 (1973).
Wild, P. IAU Circ. No. 3803 (1983).
Hummel, E. van der Hulst, J. M., Davies, R. D., Pedlar, A. & van Albada, G. D. IAU Circ. No. 3803 (1983).
Van Albada, G. D. & van der Hulst, J. M. Astr. Astrophys. 115, 263–269 (1982).
Baars, J. W. M., Genzel, R. & Pauliny-Toth, I. I. K. Astr. Astrophys. 61, 99–106 (1977).
Van der Kruit, P. C., Oort, J. H. & Mathewson, D. S. Astr. Astrophys. 21, 169 (1972).
Barbon, R., Ciatti, F. & Rosino, L. Astr. Astrophys. 72, 287–292 (1979).
Arp, H. C. in Supernovae and Supernova Remnants (ed. Cosmovici, C. B. ) 89–97 (Reidel, Dordrecht, 1974).
Wheeler, J. C. in Supernovae: A Survey of Current Research (eds Rees, M. J. & Stoneham, R. J.) 167–203 (Reidel, Dordrecht, 1982).
Buta, R. J. Publ. astr. Soc. Pacif. 94, 578–585 (1982).
Tammann, G. A. in Supernovae: A Survey of Current Research (eds Rees, M. J. & Stoneham, R. J.) 371–403 (Reidel, Dordrecht, 1982).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
van der Hulst, J., Hummel, E., Davies, R. et al. Radio discovery of a young supernova. Nature 306, 566–568 (1983). https://doi.org/10.1038/306566a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/306566a0
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
