Photometric and spectroscopic observations of SN 1990E in NGC 1035: Observational constraints for models of type II supernovae

Brian P. Schmidt*, Robert P. Kirshner, Rudy Schild, Bruno Leibundgut, David Jeffery, S. P. Willner, Reynier Peletier, Ann I. Zabludoff, Mark M. Phillips, Nicholas B. Suntzeff, Mario Hamuy, Lisa A. Wells, R. Chris Smith, Jack A. Baldwin, W. G. Weller, M. Navarette, L. Gonzalez, Alexei V. Filippenko, Joseph C. Shields, Charles C. SteidelSaul Perlmutter, Carlton Pennypacker, Craig K. Smith, Alain C. Porter, Todd A. Boroson, Raylee Stathakis, Russell Cannon, J. Peters, E. Horine, Kenneth C. Freeman, Donna S. Womble, Remington P.S. Stone, Laurence A. Marschall, Andrew C. Phillips, A. Saha, Howard E. Bond

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    55 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    We present 126 photometric and 30 spectral observations of SN 1990E spanning from 12 days before B maximum to 600 days past discovery. These observations show that SN 1990E was of type H-P, displaying hydrogen in its spectrum, and the characteristic plateau in its light curve. SN 1990E is one of the few SNe II which has been well observed before maximum light, and we present evidence that this SN was discovered very soon after its explosion. In the earliest spectra we identify, for the first time, several N II lines. We present a new technique for measuring extinction to SNe II based on the evolution of absorption lines, and use this method to estimate the extinction to SN 1990E, AV = 1.5 ± 0.3 mag. From our photometric data we have constructed a bolometric light curve for SN 1990E and show that, even at the earliest times, the bolometric luminosity was falling rapidly. We use the late-time bolometric light curve to show that SN 1990E trapped a majority of the gamma rays produced by the radioactive decay of 56Co, and estimate that SN 1990E ejected 0.073+0.018-0.051 script M sign of 56Ni, an amount virtually identical to that of SN 1987A.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)2236-2250
    Number of pages15
    JournalAstronomical Journal
    Volume105
    Issue number6
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Jun 1993

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