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Astrophysics

Progenitors of type Ia supernovae

Nature volume 481, pages 149–150 (2012)Cite this article

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A study of the remains of a type Ia supernova whose light swept past Earth about 400 years ago finds no sign of a companion star. The result indicates that the supernova's progenitor was a pair of white dwarfs. See Letter p.164

Type Ia supernovae are not just another class of star explosion. They have a pivotal role in cosmology. Measurements of their brightness as a function of their distance from Earth have provided evidence1,2 that the Universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. However, from the very beginning of the study of these objects, one major worry has been that we do not know exactly what their progenitors are. On page 164 of this issue, Schaefer and Pagnotta3 describe an analysis that provides insight into the progenitor of a type Ia supernova.

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Figure 1: Supernova remnant SNR 0509–67.5.

NASA, ESA, CXC, SAO, HUBBLE HERITAGE TEAM (STSCI/AURA) & J. HUGHES (RUTGERS UNIV.)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pilar Ruiz-Lapuente is in the Department of Astronomy and the Institut de Ciències del Cosmos (IEEC–UB), University of Barcelona, Barcelona 08028, Spain.,

    Pilar Ruiz-Lapuente

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  1. Pilar Ruiz-Lapuente
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Correspondence to Pilar Ruiz-Lapuente.

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Ruiz-Lapuente, P. Progenitors of type Ia supernovae. Nature 481, 149–150 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/481149a

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