Herschel detects a massive dust reservoir in supernova 1987A

M. Matsuura (1, 2) , E. Dwek (3) , M. Meixner (4) , M. Otsuka (4) , B. Babler (5) , M. J. Barlow (1) , J. Roman-Duval (4) , C. Engelbracht (6) , K. Sandstrom (7) , M. Lakićević (8, 9) , J. Th. van Loon (8) , G. Sonneborn (3) , G. C. Clayton (10) , K. S. Long (4) , P. Lundqvist (11) , T. Nozawa (12) , K. D. Gordon (4) , S. Hony (13) , K. Okumura (13) , K. A. Misselt (6) , E. Montiel (6) , M. Sauvage (13)

1 Department of Physics and Astronomy [UCL London]
2 MSSL - Mullard Space Science Laboratory
3 GSFC - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
4 STSci - Space Telescope Science Institute
5 Department of Astronomy [Madison]
6 Steward Observatory
7 MPIA - Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie
8 Lennard-Jones Laboratories
9 ESO - European Southern Observatory
10 LSU - Louisiana State University
11 Stockholm University
12 IPMU - Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe
13 IRFU - Institut de Recherches sur les lois Fondamentales de l'Univers

We report far-infrared and submillimeter observations of supernova 1987A, the star whose explosion was observed on 23 February 1987 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a galaxy located 160,000 light years away. The observations reveal the presence of a population of cold dust grains radiating with a temperature of about 17 to 23 kelvin at a rate of about 220 times the luminosity of the Sun. The intensity and spectral energy distribution of the emission suggest a dust mass of about 0.4 to 0.7 times the mass of the Sun. The radiation must originate from the supernova ejecta and requires the efficient precipitation of all refractory material into dust. Our observations imply that supernovae can produce the large dust masses detected in young galaxies at very high redshifts

Domaines: Astrophysique stellaire et solaire [astro-ph.SR]

M. Matsuura, E. Dwek, M. Meixner, M. Otsuka, B. Babler, et al.. Herschel detects a massive dust reservoir in supernova 1987A. Science, 2011, 333 (6047), pp.1258-61. ⟨10.1126/science.1205983⟩. ⟨cea-00863851⟩