Supernova 1987A
What is SN1987A?
SN1987A was a supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) - the nearest supernova explosion observed in over 300 years, approximately 51.4 kiloparsecs (168,000 light years)away. That made it visible to the naked eye, with an apparent magnitude of about 3 that slowly declined over the following months. Radio emission from SN1987A was first detected with the MOST on 1987 February 25.23 UT (Turtle et al. 1987, Nature, 327, 38), two days after the detection of neutrinos.
Supernova 1987A: MOST light curve at 843 MHz
MOST continued to monitor the evolution of the radio emission through its decline, quiescence, recovery on 1990 July 5, and subsequent monotonic rise up to the present. The most recent data show a clear steepening in the rate of increase of flux density. The closer monitoring around day 6000 was triggered by an apparent increase in short-term variability.
843 MHz flux densities up to and including 1994 September 3 were reported by Ball et al. 1995 (ApJ, 453, 864). Data from 1994 September 17 to 2000 May 5 are given in Ball et al. 2001 (ApJ, 549, 599). The complete light curve is shown below.
- Download the full MOST datafile from 1987 to the present (25 kB)
- Download the MOST radio image of the SN1987A field (92 kB, gzipped ps)
- Download the MOST light curve at 843 MHz (45 kB, ps)
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If you use any MOST images or data for SN1987A in your publication, please cite
Ball, L., Crawford, D.F., Hunstead, R.W., Klamer, I., & McIntyre, V.J., ``Radio supernova 1987A at 843 MHz'' (2001, ApJ, 549, 599-607)
and this website, and include the acknowledgement:
"The MOST is operated by the University of Sydney and supported in part by grants from the Australian Research Council."
More Information
For more information contact Prof. Dick Hunstead