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Velocity structure of the ring nebula around supernova 1987A

Abstract

THE optical fading of supernova 1987A has revealed a parsec-sized nebula glowing in narrow atomic lines. The emission is presumed to come from circumstellar material, shed during the life of the progenitor star, illuminated by the ultraviolet flash from the explosion. This material is the closest to the supernova site that has been detected (apart from some transient radio emission immediately after the explosion1) and therefore represents the youngest pre-supernova structure available for study. Here we report a series of high-resolution spectra of the nebulosity. The hollow, 1.7-arcsec-wide nebula has the velocity field of a ring expanding at 10.3 km s−1, not that of a limb-brightened spheroid. Fainter nebulosity within 3 arcsec is expanding slightly faster, as indicated by redshifted emission from behind the supernova. The geometry of the emission can be used to infer structure, provided that light travel time and recombination delays are accounted for. Our analysis sets an upper limit to the velocity of the wind from the progenitor during its red supergiant (RSG) phase, and implies an RSG lifetime of <4×l05yr and an interval of 2×l04yr between the end of the RSG phase and the supernova explosion.

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Crotts, A., Heathcote, S. Velocity structure of the ring nebula around supernova 1987A. Nature 350, 683–685 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1038/350683a0

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