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Supernova impostors and other gap transients

Nature Astronomy volume 3, pages 676–679 (2019)Cite this article

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Besides supernovae, few astrophysical processes can release close to 1051 erg of energy. A growing number of stellar outbursts are now recognized to have energy releases matching those of faint supernovae. These transients can be triggered by various mechanisms, and their discrimination is sometimes a tricky issue.

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Fig. 1: Summary of the main properties of gap transients.
Fig. 2: The diversity of gap transients.

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Acknowledgements

M.F. is supported by a Royal Society–Science Foundation Ireland University Research Fellowship. A.P. and M.F. thank their many students, collaborators and colleagues without whose ongoing collaboration this article could not have been written.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INAF — Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, Padova, Italy

    Andrea Pastorello

  2. School of Physics, O’Brien Centre for Science North, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Morgan Fraser

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  1. Andrea Pastorello
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  2. Morgan Fraser
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Correspondence to Andrea Pastorello.

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Pastorello, A., Fraser, M. Supernova impostors and other gap transients. Nat Astron 3, 676–679 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-019-0809-9

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