Discovery of an inner light-echo ring around SN 1987A

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics

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Interstellar Matter, Reflection Nebulae, Supernova 1987A, Brightness Distribution, Charge Coupled Devices, Light Scattering, Stellar Envelopes, Stellar Winds

Scientific paper

The detection of an inner light echo around SN 1987A based on observations made in January, 1989, is reported. An examination of direct CCD images reveals a third, inner light-echo ring around the SN with a mean radius of 8.2 arcsec and a width of the ring of 3.0 arcsec, so that the scattering material is distributed between radii 3.1 and 5.7 pc from the supernova. The difference in brightness on the eastern and western sides indicates that the scattering material is not uniformly distributed around the supernova. The inner light echo is attributed to a shell of red-supergiant wind material that was decelerated by its interaction with the surrounding medium. The fact that the discovery was made only in 1989 implies that there is a cavity in the dust along the line of sight toward the earth; therefore, the shell material outside the cavity became illuminated only at the end of 1988.

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