SN 1987A

Roberto Bartali

The supernova
SN1987A is a very
special one,
because for the
first time
astronomers saw
the process almost
from its beginning.
Before talk about
SN1987A, I wish
to get some general
details about the
supernovae
phenomenon.
A supernova is a
massive star (more
than 8 solar masses)
in the super giant
phase of its life, it can be a
The Large Magellanic Cloud, the arroW point to the supernova. red or blue super giant. When
From: http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Sect20/A6.html
the nuclear fuel ends, the
pressure of the radiation from the star core ends and the enormous mass of the star contract
because there are no forces to counterpart
the gravity. This is a kind of implosion,
than, in a very little time, occurs the
explosion, expelling all the gas onto space.
After some time the gas temperature (at
several millions of degree in the explosion
instant) decrease and we can see a
planetary nebula. The core of the star, is
now a neutron star, very massive and tiny.
As the core shrinks, it start to spin faster (it
need to obey the energy and momentum
conservation laws).
Evolution of the Supernova SN1987A.
From:
http://outreach.atnf.csiro.au/images/astronomic
al/sn1987a.html

The magnetic fields around the original star, when the star diameter get smaller, increase
because the field lines get closer together. From the poles of the neutron star, begin an
emission of radiation, we can see a beam of radiation that may be X, UV, Visible, IR,
Radio.

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If the beam is aligned exactly with our line of sight, we can see it and we can detect an
intense electromagnetic radiation (EM) spot in the radio part of the spectrum.
If the rotation axis of the neutron star is perpendicular to the line of sight, we can only
detect 2 distant lobes. If the axis is tilted in such a form that, in a particular position, the
beam, it is aligned with our line of sight, we can detect EM pulsations. In this latter case we
call the neutron star a Pulsar. The rate of the pulsations give us the equatorial rotation speed
of the neutron star.
But when the star explode in a supernova fashion, the EM radiation emitted is in a very
large broad band, really it covers almost all the EM spectrum, from high energy gamma
rays to the lowest energy radio
waves.
This is because the supernova
process is very quickly, so when

Shell expansion:
From:
http://th.nao.ac.jp/openhouse/1998/
vrml/scene4/sn1987a.jpg

the gasses are expelled, they are at

very high temperature, and they
emit gamma and X photons. As the
gas expand into space, the
temperature decrease, so photons
with longer wavelength are present.
But not only EM radiation is
emitted, some theories suggest that
a few hours before the implosion-
explosion of the star, there are an
intense neutrino emission.
In the case of SN1987A a few neutrinos was detected from detectors on Earth.
Supernovae are classified depending on some spectral characteristics as follows:
• Type Ia lacks of hydrogen lines and presence of Si II absorption line
• Type Ib absence of hydrogen lines and presence of He line
• Type II there is strong hydrogen and magnesium line
Now, here are some details about SN1987A:
• The progenitor star coordinate are: RA: 05h 35m 27s; DECL: -69° 16.2m
• Dist: 169000 ly
• Constellation: Doradus
• Galaxy: Large Magellanic Cloud
• Magnitude: 12 visual (2.9 max)
• Star type: Blue giant
• Type: II
• Explosion date: February 24, 1987
• Star classification: Sk -69 202
• Star designation: SN1987A

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SN1987A was discovered by Jan Shelton on February 24.23 UT 1987, when it was at
magnitude 5. Interpolating earlier observations, it increase its magnitude more than 2.5 in
less than 5 hours.
About 2 hours before the visible flash, 2
neutrino detectors on Earth, received an
immense burst, and fortunately, the
Japanese Kamiokande II observed 12
flashes. Other 8 flashes was detected by
the USA IMB detector facility.
The burst was detected in a time lapse of
12 seconds. The total calculated energy
was 3 x 10e53 ergs; kT temperature as
high as 4 MeV. This data agree with the
theory of the formation of a neutron star
after an iron core collapse of a super giant
star.
The optical flash followed the neutrino
burst less than 2 to 3 hours, this is the time
for the shock wave to reach the outer
envelope of the star. This implies a mass
SN1987A light curve.
From:
of the original star less then 100 solar
http://zebu.uoregon.edu/~imamura/208/mar1/sn198 masses. When exploded, the temperature
7a_lc.gif of the photosphere was as high as a
million degree, astronomers calculated
that 10e57 ionizing photons was generated.
Subsequent observations help to find the progenitor star (SK -69 202), and really it was a
blue super giant with 40 solar masses, shine at 12 magnitude but the total luminosity was
10e5 times the Sun luminosity.
Just a few hours
after the optical
burst, the IUVE
satellite took a
spectrum of the
star, it finds that
the gas was
expanding at
30000 Km/s.
Supernovae are
fundamental
objects in the
construction of
Shockwaves produced during the explosion of SN1987A, reached a ring of dust and
gas near the death star, heating and ionizing them. This is a series of pictures taken the universe, all
by the HST from 1994 to 2003. atoms beyond
From: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2004/09/image/b iron (atomic
number >26) are
created by them. So when astronomers point spectroscopes to the exploded star, they found
massive atoms.

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The explosion form Ni56, sometimes later it decay into CO56 and then into CO57, then into
Ti44, etc. The debris ejected may account for 5 to 15 solar masses.
Just after 1.6 day after the death of
the star, spectroscopes detected
stronger H and Mg lines, this is the
typical characteristic of a SN of
type II, but the surprise was that no
other one blue super giant explode
as did SN1987A, all known SN of
type II, was red super giant, but we
see later a possible explanation for
this fact.
The very high initial temperature
corresponding to a black body
temperature of 14000 K rapidly
decreases and in two weeks, it was
only at 5500 K.
Spectroscopic analysis shows that
the original blue shift
corresponding to an ejection
velocity of the gasses of 30000
Km/s, decrease quickly, this fact
means that the gasses of the
The ring of SN1987A in different wavelength: visible (upper left), photosphere are moving back
radio (upper right) and X rays (bottom on different dates). into the core and the debris are
From: http://rst.gsfc.nasa.gov/Sect20/A6.html
in
an expansion movement.
After 4 months, the photosphere disappears and then begins a new phase of the SN process
called "nebular phase".
In this phase the spectra present strong emission lines from H alpha, OI and CaII atoms.
The outer part of the debris became invisible at optical wavelength due to their temperature.
After a year, the temperature is so cold that they shine on IR part of the EM spectrum at
near 4 micron wavelength.
The analysis indicates that gasses are not homogeneous inside the debris, so temperature
depends on the type and on the relative concentration of atoms.
After 4 years, where the composition is almost C and O, the temperature is in the range of
200 to 500 K, where there are more H, the temperature is hotter (700 K), He zones are
cooler, about 500 K.
HST pictures show a remnant like no other known, there are 3 rings. The inner one, formed
after the explosion of the star, is near circular, it is hot and its spectra show emission lines.
It is tilted at about 45 degree respect to our line of sight. This gas glows due to the heating
produced by the ionizing radiation generated in the few hours after the explosion. This ring
is expanding at 10 Km/s, we can infer that the explosion was roughly 20000 years ago.
High accuracy measurement of the distance of the star gets 51 Kpc (+/-3). This inner ring is
rich in C, N and O, as expected, because they are the atoms that served as fuel in the super
giant phase of the star.

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Those other 2 outer ring surrounding the inner, are also near circular, but not concentric
with it.
One is in front and the other lie on the other side of the star. Each one has a diameter of
about 1.5 ly and they are displaced some 1.3 ly respect to the center of the inner ring. The
planes of the 3 rings are roughly parallel.

Scientist tell us that they are part of the progenitor star (Sk
-69 202), but that matter was expelled 40000 years ago, so
they left the star 20000 before the explosion.
Why this fact took place is not fully understood, but a
hypothesis suggest that the original star was really a
binary system with one of the member as a red giant.
When the 2 stars collapsed, there was the expulsion of
gasses, and they are what we see today as the double ring.
This hypothesis explains why SN1987A was not a red
giant.
Near the supernonova, there are a cloud of dust and gas
that produce light echoes, this is because the dust scatter
the light.

Hubble Space Telescope image of the This matter was, probably, the matter expelled
SN1987A renmant. by the original star when it was in the red giant
From: phase (before merging with the companion star).
http://www.astroarts.jp/news/2000/02/17hst/s
n1987a.jpg
The neutrino flash indicates that there are a
neutron star, it was formed after the collapse of
the outermost part of the star and the following explosion. But there is no evidence yet of
its existence. Calculations, based on the neutrino burst intensity, shows that it must be
sufficiently large and bright to be detected. A theory for that, suggest that some mass
collapsed again into the core, so the pressure shrink it and instead of a neutron star we have
to see a black hole.
The tiny and compact object remained there, have a very low magnetic field and maybe it
rotate at very low velocity.
Unfortunately, the debris are opaque at almost all wavelength so this object is nearly
invisible, this may last for many years, until the expansion decrease its density.
Maybe, with a much sensitive and powerful radio telescope, we can detect the peak signal
of the pulsar (if really remained a neutron star), but the resolving power of this instrument
is beyond our technological skills (for now).

References

Murdin P, Encyclopaedia of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Institute of Physics, 2001

http://zebu.uoregon.edu/~imamura/208/mar1/collapse.html

http://www.pha.jhu.edu/~qzhang/seminar1bfigs/seminar1bfigs.html