Abstract We report the optical, UV, and soft X-ray observations of the 2017–2022 eruptions of the recurrent nova M31N 2008-12a. We find a cusp feature in the r ′ - and i ′ -band light curves close to ...the peak, which could be related to jets. The geometry of the nova ejecta based on morpho-kinematic modeling of the H α emission line indicates an extended jet-like bipolar structure. Spectral modeling indicates an ejecta mass of 10 −7 –10 −8 M ⊙ during each eruption and an enhanced helium abundance. The supersoft source phase shows significant variability, which is anticorrelated to the UV emission, indicating a common origin. The variability could be due to the reformation of the accretion disk. We infer a steady decrease in the accretion rate over the years based on the intereruption recurrence period. A comparison of the accretion rate with different models on the M WD – M ̇ plane yields the mass of a CO white dwarf, powering the H-shell flashes every ∼1 yr, to be >1.36 M ⊙ and growing with time, making M31N 2008-12a a strong candidate for the single degenerate scenario of the Type Ia supernovae progenitor.
Abstract
We present early-phase panchromatic photometric and spectroscopic coverage spanning the far-ultraviolet to near-infrared regime of the nearest hydrogen-rich core-collapse supernova (SN) in ...the last 25 yr, SN 2023ixf. We observe early “flash” features in the optical spectra due to confined dense circumstellar material (CSM). We observe high-ionization absorption lines (Fe
ii
, Mg
ii
) in the ultraviolet spectra from very early on. We also observe a multipeaked emission profile of H
α
in the spectrum beginning at ∼16 days, which indicates ongoing interaction of the SN ejecta with a preexisting shell-shaped CSM having an inner radius of ∼75 au and an outer radius of ∼140 au. The shell-shaped CSM is likely a result of enhanced mass loss ∼35–65 yr before the explosion assuming a standard red supergiant wind. The UV spectra are dominated by multiple highly ionized narrow absorption and broad emission features from elements such as C, N, O, Si, Fe, and Ni. Based on early light-curve models of Type II SNe, we infer that the nearby dense CSM confined to 7 ± 3 × 10
14
cm (∼45 au) is a result of enhanced mass loss (10
−3.0±0.5
M
⊙
yr
−1
) two decades before the explosion.
We report observations of the optical counterpart of the long gamma-ray burst GRB 221009A. Due to the extreme rarity of being both nearby (z = 0.151) and highly energetic (Eϒ,iso≥ 1054erg), GRB ...221009A offers a unique opportunity to probe the connection between massive star core collapse and relativistic jet formation across a very broad range of γ-ray properties. Adopting a phenomenological power-law model for the afterglow and host galaxy estimates from high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope imaging, we use Bayesian model comparison techniques to determine the likelihood of an associated supernova (SN) contributing excess flux to the optical light curve. Though not conclusive, we find moderate evidence (KBayes=101.2for the presence of an additional component arising from an associated SN, SN 2022xiw, and find that it must be substantially fainter (<67% as bright at the 99% confidence interval) than SN 1998bw. Given the large and uncertain line-of-sight extinction, we attempt to constrain the SN parameters (MNi, Mejand EKE) under several different assumptions with respect to the host galaxy's extinction. We find properties that are broadly consistent with previous GRB-associated SNe: MNi = 0.05–0.25 M⊙, Mej = 3.5–11.1 M⊙, and EKE = (1.6–5.2) × 1052 erg. We note that these properties are weakly constrained due to the faintness of the SN with respect to the afterglow and host emission, but we do find a robust upper limit on MNi of MNi < 0.36 M⊙. Given the tremendous range in isotropic gamma-ray energy release exhibited by GRBs (seven orders of magnitude), the SN emission appears to be decoupled from the central engine in these systems.
Abstract
We report observations of the optical counterpart of the long gamma-ray burst (GRB) GRB 230812B and its associated supernova (SN) SN 2023pel. The proximity (
z
= 0.36) and high energy (
E
γ
...,iso
∼ 10
53
erg) make it an important event to study as a probe of the connection between massive star core collapse and relativistic jet formation. With a phenomenological power-law model for the optical afterglow, we find a late-time flattening consistent with the presence of an associated SN. SN 2023pel has an absolute peak
r
-band magnitude of
M
r
= −19.46 ± 0.18 mag (about as bright as SN 1998bw) and evolves on quicker timescales. Using a radioactive heating model, we derive a nickel mass powering the SN of
M
Ni
= 0.38 ± 0.01
M
⊙
and a peak bolometric luminosity of
L
bol
∼ 1.3 × 10
43
erg s
−1
. We confirm SN 2023pel’s classification as a broad-line Type Ic SN with a spectrum taken 15.5 days after its peak in the
r
band and derive a photospheric expansion velocity of
v
ph
= 11,300 ± 1600 km s
−1
at that phase. Extrapolating this velocity to the time of maximum light, we derive the ejecta mass
M
ej
= 1.0 ± 0.6
M
⊙
and kinetic energy
E
KE
=
1.3
−
1.2
+
3.3
×
10
51
erg
. We find that GRB 230812B/SN 2023pel has SN properties that are mostly consistent with the overall GRB-SN population. The lack of correlations found in the GRB-SN population between SN brightness and
E
γ
,iso
for their associated GRBs across a broad range of 7 orders of magnitude provides further evidence that the central engine powering the relativistic ejecta is not coupled to the SN powering mechanism in GRB-SN systems.
ABSTRACT
The detection and accurate astrometry of fast-moving near-Earth objects (NEOs) has been a challenge for the follow-up community. Their fast apparent motion results in streaks in sidereal ...images, thus affecting the telescope’s limiting magnitude and astrometric accuracy. A widely adopted technique to mitigate trailing losses is non-sidereal tracking, which transfers the streaking to background reference stars. However, no existing publicly available astrometry software is configured to detect such elongated stars. We present Astreaks, a streaking source detection algorithm, to obtain accurate astrometry of NEOs in non-sidereal data. We validate the astrometric accuracy of Astreaks on 371 non-sidereally tracked images for 115 NEOs with two instrument set-ups of the GROWTH-India Telescope. The observed NEOs had V-band magnitude in the range 15, 22 with proper motion up to 140 arcsec min−1, thus resulting in stellar streaks as high as 6.5 arcmin (582 pixels) in our data. Our method obtained astrometric solutions for all images with 100 per cent success rate. The standard deviation in observed-minus-computed (O–C) residuals is 0.52 arcsec with O–C residuals <2 arcsec (<1 arcsec) for 98.4 per cent (84.4 per cent) of our measurements. These are appreciable, given the pixel scale of ∼0.3 and ∼0.7 arcsec of our two instrument set-ups. This demonstrates that our modular and fully automated algorithm helps improve the telescope system’s limiting magnitude without compromising astrometric accuracy by enabling non-sidereal tracking on the target. This will help the NEO follow-up community cope with the accelerated discovery rates and improved sensitivity of the next-generation NEO surveys. Astreaks has been made available to the community under an open-source license.
Abstract
We present the design and performance of the GROWTH-India telescope, a 0.7 m robotic telescope dedicated to time-domain astronomy. The telescope is equipped with a 4k back-illuminated camera ...that gives a 0.°82 field of view and a sensitivity of
m
g′
∼ 20.5 in 5 minute exposures. Custom software handles observatory operations: attaining high on-sky observing efficiencies (≳80%) and allowing rapid response to targets of opportunity. The data processing pipelines are capable of performing point-spread function photometry as well as image subtraction for transient searches. We also present an overview of the GROWTH-India telescope’s contributions to the studies of gamma-ray bursts, the electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave sources, supernovae, novae, and solar system objects.
Abstract
The transiting planet HD 80606 b undergoes a 1000 fold increase in insolation during its 111 days orbit due to it being highly eccentric (
e
= 0.93). The planet’s effective temperature ...increases from 400 to over 1400 K in a few hours as it makes a rapid passage to within 0.03 au of its host star during periapsis. Spectroscopic observations during the eclipse (which is conveniently oriented a few hours before periapsis) of HD 80606 b with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) are poised to exploit this highly variable environment to study a wide variety of atmospheric properties, including composition, chemical and dynamical timescales, and large scale atmospheric motions. Critical to planning and interpreting these observations is an accurate knowledge of the planet’s orbit. We report on observations of two full-transit events: 2020 February 7 as observed by the TESS spacecraft and 2021 December 7–8 as observed with a worldwide network of small telescopes. We also report new radial velocity observations which, when analyzed with a coupled model to the transits, greatly improves the planet’s orbital ephemeris. Our new orbit solution reduces the uncertainty in the transit and eclipse timing of the JWST era from tens of minutes to a few minutes. When combined with the planned JWST observations, this new precision may be adequate to look for non-Keplerian effects in the orbit of HD 80606 b.
Outbursts of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko Sharma, Kritti; Kelley, Michael S. P.; Joharle, Simran ...
Research Notes of the AAS,
12/2021, Volume:
5, Issue:
12
Journal Article
Open access
Abstract
We monitored the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko close to its perihelion in November 2021 with the GROWTH-India Telescope. We observed two outbursts of this comet on 2021 October 29.940 and ...November 17.864 UTC, −3.12 days and +15.81 days respectively from the perihelion date. The brightening in the first outburst appears as a compact source, with a radial extent up to 8.″5. The comet brightened by 0.26 ± 0.03 mag in the outburst, with a 27% increase in the effective geometric cross-section and total outburst dust mass of ∼5.3 × 10
5
kg. The second outburst caused a brightening of 0.49 ± 0.08 mag with effective geometric cross-section and total outburst dust mass 2.5 times larger than the first event. These outbursts are up to an order of magnitude larger than the strongest outburst event observed in situ by the Rosetta spacecraft in 2015.
The detection and accurate astrometry of fast-moving near-Earth objects (NEOs) has been a challenge for the follow-up community. Their fast apparent motion results in streaks in sidereal images, thus ...affecting the telescope's limiting magnitude and astrometric accuracy. A widely adopted technique to mitigate trailing losses is non-sidereal tracking, which transfers the streaking to background reference stars. However, no existing publicly available astrometry software is configured to detect such elongated stars. We present Astreaks, a streaking source detection algorithm, to obtain accurate astrometry of NEOs in non-sidereal data. We validate the astrometric accuracy of Astreaks on 371 non-sidereally tracked images for 115 NEOs with two instrument set-ups of the GROWTH-India Telescope. The observed NEOs had V-band magnitude in the range 15, 22 with proper motion up to 140\(^{\prime\prime}\)/min, thus resulting in stellar streaks as high as 6.5\(^\prime\) (582 pixels) in our data. Our method obtained astrometric solutions for all images with 100% success rate. The standard deviation in Observed-minus-Computed (O-C) residuals is 0.52\(^{\prime\prime}\), with O-C residuals <2\(^{\prime\prime}\)(<1\(^{\prime\prime}\)) for 98.4% (84.4%) of our measurements. These are appreciable, given the pixel scale of \(\sim\)0.3\(^{\prime\prime}\) and \(\sim\)0.7\(^{\prime\prime}\) of our two instrument set-ups. This demonstrates that our modular and fully-automated algorithm helps improve the telescope system's limiting magnitude without compromising astrometric accuracy by enabling non-sidereal tracking on the target. This will help the NEO follow-up community cope with the accelerated discovery rates and improved sensitivity of the next-generation NEO surveys. Astreaks has been made available to the community under an open-source license.
We report the optical, UV, and soft X-ray observations of the \(2017-2022\) eruptions of the recurrent nova M31N 2008-12a. We infer a steady decrease in the accretion rate over the years based on the ...inter-eruption recurrence period. We find a ``cusp'' feature in the \(r'\) and \(i'\) band light curves close to the peak, which could be associated to jets. Spectral modelling indicates a mass ejection of 10\(^{-7}\) to 10\(^{-8}\) M\(_{\odot}\) during each eruption, and an enhanced Helium abundance of He/He\(_{\odot}\) \(\approx\) 3. The super-soft source (SSS) phase shows significant variability, which is anti-correlated to the UV emission, indicating a common origin. The variability could be due to the reformation of the accretion disk. A comparison of the accretion rate with different models on the $\rm M_{WD}$$-\dot{M}\( plane yields the mass of a CO WD, powering the ``H-shell flashes'' every \)\sim\( 1 year to be \)>1.36\( M\)_{\odot}$ and growing with time, making M31N 2008-12a a strong candidate for the single degenerate scenario of Type Ia supernovae progenitor.
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