Speaker
Josefin Larsson
(Stockholm University & Oskar Klein Centre)
Description
I will present the light curve of the ejecta of SN 1987A
measured from HST
observations spanning the past 17 years. The light curve
shows that the flux declined
up to around year 2001, but then started to increase,
reaching a level more than twice
as high in 2010. The declining phase is well modelled by
radioactive decay of 44Ti, but a
new energy source is needed to explain the late time
brightening. I will show that the
brightening is due to illumination of the ejecta by X-rays
from the circumstellar ring
interaction. I will also discuss the observed morphology of
the ejecta and how this is
affected by the X-ray illumination.
Primary author
Josefin Larsson
(Stockholm University & Oskar Klein Centre)
