Artists interpretation of the calcium-rich supernova 2019ehk. Shown in orange is the calcium-rich material created in the explosion. Purple coloring represents gas shed by the star right before the explosion, which then produced bright X-ray emission when the material collided with the supernova shockwave. Credit: A. M. Geller/Northwestern University/CTIO/SOAR/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA

Calcium-rich supernovae, a unique type of exploding stars, produce up to half of the calcium in the Universe.

Astronomers using several telescopes at NOIRLab, including the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) Telescope, have obtained critical data on a particular type of exploding star that produces copious amounts of calcium. The calcium produced in this unique type of supernova explosion is the same calcium found in our bones and teeth and these events account for up to half of the calcium found in the Universe.

Thanks to detailed observations using the SOAR Telescope, located on Cerro Pachn in Chile, and a host of telescopes around the world and in space[1], astronomers have been able to probe the inner workings of a special type of supernova explosion. These particular explosions, from compact stars that lose copious amounts of mass late in their lives, appear to create the element calcium in their last dying gasps and it is dispersed by the explosion throughout galaxies like the Milky Way. SOAR is a facility of Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), a Program of NSFs NOIRLab.

Hubble Space Telescope image of SN 2019ehk in its spiral host galaxy, Messier 100. The image is a composite made of pre- and post-explosion images. Credit: CTIO/SOAR/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/Northwestern University/C. Kilpatrick/University of California Santa Cruz/NASA-ESA Hubble Space Telescop

Most massive stars create small amounts of calcium during their lifetimes, but events like SN 2019ehk appear to be responsible for producing vast quantities of calcium and in the process of exploding disperse it through interstellar space within galaxies. Ultimately this calcium makes its way into forming planetary systems, according to Rgis Cartier, an astronomer at NOIRLab and a member of the research team, and into our bodies in the case of our Earth!

Raffaella Margutti, senior author of the study at Northwestern University, adds that prior to this event astronomers had only indirect information on these events, called calcium-rich supernovae. With this direct evidence, we can now confidently rule out the production of calcium-rich supernovae by the vast majority of massive stars, said Margutti.

By observing what this star did in its final month before it reached its critical, tumultuous end, we peered into a place previously unexplored, opening new avenues of study, said Wynn Jacobson-Galan, of Northwestern University, who led the study. The results are published in the 5 August issue of The Astrophysical Journal, which included contributions from a huge collaboration of nearly 70 co-authors from over 15 countries.

SOAR Telescope with snow on mountain. Credit: CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. Fuentes

The SOAR data were critical to the result. In particular, the infrared spectrum acquired with SOAR, only the second-ever obtained of a calcium-rich supernova, opened a new window on the kind of elements expelled by the supernova elements such as helium, carbon, magnesium and calcium, all of which have a clear spectral fingerprint at infrared wavelengths. Understanding how much and what kind of elements are expelled by a supernova provides critical clues to the nature of the explosion what kind of star exploded and how it exploded. It also provides insights into how calcium-rich supernovae produce so much calcium. While that interesting question remains an open issue, the SOAR observations represent some of the first steps toward an answer.

Because these events are so rare, and difficult to detect because they are faint, we dont have a lot of data on which to base our theories about what happens as these stars expel material in their death throes, said Cartier.

The explosive event occurred in the relatively nearby galaxy known as Messier 100 which is a popular target for amateur astronomers and is readily visible through small telescopes. In fact, it was amateur astronomer Joel Shepherd who first spotted the light from the exploding star while stargazing in Seattle on 28 April 2019, and soon thereafter it was designated SN 2019ehk. Messier 100 is a beautiful spiral galaxy similar to our Milky Way and is located some 55 million light-years away towards the constellation of Coma Berenices (Berenices Hair) in the northern sky near the constellation of Ursa Major (The Great Bear) which contains the Big Dipper.

According to Jacobson-Galan, once the discovery was announced telescopes around the world and in space were pointed at the exploding star.

Augmenting optical and infrared observations like those by SOAR, X-ray observations revealed a flood of high-energy X-rays from SN 2019ehk the first time they were observed in a calcium-rich supernova. According to the researchers, nobody had ever thought to look at this type of explosion in X-ray light so soon after it occurred.

The combination of observations by SOAR and other telescopes led to the teams conclusion that this calcium-rich supernova was a compact star that expelled an outer layer of gas as it expired. When it exploded its expelled material collided with surrounding material in its outer shell and the extremely hot temperatures produced X-rays and powered the chemical reactions that make calcium.

The SOAR Telescopes role in studying this event reflects its evolution toward preparations for the massive Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), which will be carried out at the nearby Vera C. Rubin Observatory, also sited on Cerro Pachn. As SOAR Director Jay Elias explained, The SOAR Telescope is a flexible platform, designed to be able to respond quickly to unexpected astronomical events like this one. In recent years, SOAR has observed many such transient events discovered by large-area surveys in order to probe the nature of those events. We are continually working to increase the telescopes efficiency and agility as we prepare for the start of LSST.

This type of science, which is critically time-dependent, is an important aspect of where astronomy is heading, said Edward Ajhar of the US National Science Foundation. Future facilities such as the Rubin Observatory will discover thousands of transient events like this and will keep astronomers busy making many new discoveries.

[1] Post-explosion observations and spectra for this result were also collected by several facilities at NOIRLab observatories including the Bok 2.3-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory and Las Cumbres Observatory telescopes at CTIO, as well as at the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, the Swope 1-meter telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in Chile, the PlaneWave CDK-700 0.7-meter telescope at Thacher Observatory in California, Las Cumbres Observatory telescopes in South Africa (Sutherland), Australia (Siding Spring, Faulkes Telescope South) and the US (McDonald and Faulkes Telescope North), the ATLAS twin 0.5-meter telescope system in Hawaii, the Konkoly Observatory in Hungary, the ESO New Technology Telescope, the MMT Observatory, and the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array in New Mexico. Pre-explosion data from the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory were also used.

This research was presented in a paper to appear in the 5 August issue of The Astrophysical Journal.

For more on this research, read Unprecedented Observations Shine Light on a Dying Stars Final Moments.

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Reference: SN2019ehk: A double-peaked Ca-rich transient with luminous X-ray emission and shock-ionized spectral features by Wynn V. Jacobson-Galn, Raffaella Margutti, Charles D. Kilpatrick, Daichi Hiramatsu, Hagai Perets, David Khatami, Ryan J. Foley, John Raymond, Sung-Chul Yoon, Alexey Bobrick, Yossef Zenati, Llus Galbany, Jennifer Andrews, Peter J. Brown, Rgis Cartier, Deanne L. Coppejans, Georgios Dimitriadis, Matthew Dobson, Aprajita Hajela, D. Andrew Howell, Hanindyo Kuncarayakti, Danny Milisavljevic, Mohammed Rahman, Csar Rojas-Bravo, David J. Sand, Joel Shepherd, Stephen J. Smartt, Holland Stacey, Michael Stroh, Jonathan J. Swift, Giacomo Terreran, Jozsef Vinko, Xiaofeng Wang, Joseph P. Anderson, Edward A. Baron, Edo Berger, Peter K. Blanchard, Jamison Burke, David A. Coulter, Lindsay DeMarchi, James M. DerKacy, Christoffer Fremling, Sebastian Gomez, Mariusz Gromadzki, Griffin Hosseinzadeh, Daniel Kasen, Levente Kriskovics, Curtis McCully, Toms E. Mller-Bravo, Matt Nicholl, Andrs Ordasi, Craig Pellegrino, Anthony L. Piro, Andrs Pl, Juanjuan Ren, Armin Rest, R. Michael Rich, Hanna Sai, Krisztin Srneczky, Ken J. Shen, Philip Short, Matthew R. Siebert, Candice Stauffer, Rbert Szakts, Xinhan Zhang, Jujia Zhang and Kaicheng Zhang, 5 August 2020, The Astrophysical Journal.DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab9e66

The team is composed of Wynn V. Jacobson-Galn (Northwestern University and University of California, Santa Cruz), Raffaella Margutti (Northwestern University), Charles D. Kilpatrick (University of California, Santa Cruz), Daichi Hiramatsu (University of California, Santa Barbara and Las Cumbres Observatory), Hagai Perets (Technion Israel Institute of Technology), David Khatami (University of California, Berkeley), Ryan J. Foley (University of California, Santa Cruz), John Raymond (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian), Sung-Chul Yoon (Seoul National University), Alexey Bobrick (Lund University), Yossef Zenati (Technion Israel Institute of Technology), Llus Galbany (Universidad de Granada), Jennifer Andrews (Steward Observatory), Peter J. Brown (Texas A&M University), Rgis Cartier (Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory/NOIRLab), Deanne L. Coppejans (Northwestern University), Georgios Dimitriadis (University of California, Santa Cruz), Matthew Dobson (Queens University Belfast), Aprajita Hajela (Northwestern University), D. Andrew Howell (University of California, Santa Barbara and Las Cumbres Observatory), Hanindyo Kuncarayakti (University of Turku), Danny Milisavljevic (Purdue University), Mohammed Rahman (The Thacher School), Csar Rojas-Bravo (University of California, Santa Cruz), David J. Sand (Steward Observatory), Joel Shepherd (Seattle Astronomical Society), Stephen J. Smartt (Queens University Belfast), Holland Stacey (The Thacher School), Michael Stroh (Northwestern University), Jonathan J. Swift (The Thacher School), Giacomo Terreran (Northwestern University), Jozsef Vinko (CSFK Konkoly Observatory, University of Szeged, and ELTE Etvs Lornd University), Xiaofeng Wang (Tsinghua University and Beijing Planetarium), Joseph P. Anderson (European Southern Observatory), Edward A. Baron (University of Oklahoma), Edo Berger (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian), Peter K. Blanchard (Northwestern University), Jamison Burke (University of California, Santa Barbara and Las Cumbres Observatory), David A. Coulter (University of California, Santa Cruz), Lindsay DeMarchi (Northwestern University), James M. DerKacy (University of Oklahoma), Christoffer Fremling (California Institute of Technology), Sebastian Gomez (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian), Mariusz Gromadzki (University of Warsaw), Griffin Hosseinzadeh (Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian), Daniel Kasen (University of California, Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory), Levente Kriskovics (CSFK Konkoly Observatory and ELTE Etvs Lornd University), Curtis McCully (University of California, Santa Barbara and Las Cumbres Observatory), Toms E. Mller-Bravo (University of Southampton), Matt Nicholl (University of Birmingham and University of Edinburgh), Andrs Ordasi (CSFK Konkoly Observatory), Craig Pellegrino (University of California, Santa Barbara and Las Cumbres Observatory), Anthony L. Piro (The Observatories of the Carnegie Institution for Science), Andrs Pl (CSFK Konkoly Observatory, ELTE Etvs Lornd University), Juanjuan Ren (National Astronomical Observatory of China), Armin Rest (Space Telescope Science Institute and The Johns Hopkins University), R. Michael Rich (University of California at Los Angeles), Hanna Sai (Tsinghua University), Krisztin Srneczky (CSFK Konkoly Observatory), Ken J. Shen (University of California, Berkeley), Philip Short (University of Edinburgh), Matthew Siebert (University of California, Santa Cruz), Candice Stauffer (Northwestern University), Rbert Szakts (CSFK Konkoly Observatory), Xinhan Zhang (Tsinghua University), Jujia Zhang (Yunnan Astronomical Observatory of China), and Kaicheng Zhang (Tsinghua University).

NSFs National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab), the US center for ground-based optical-infrared astronomy, operates the international Gemini Observatory (a facility of NSF, NRC-Canada, ANID-Chile, MCTIC-Brazil, MINCyT-Argentina, and KASI-Republic of Korea), Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO), Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO), the Community Science and Data Center (CSDC), and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. It is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with NSF and is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona. The astronomical community is honored to have the opportunity to conduct astronomical research on Iolkam Duag (Kitt Peak) in Arizona, on Maunakea in Hawaii, and on Cerro Tololo and Cerro Pachn in Chile. We recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that these sites have to the Tohono Oodham Nation, to the Native Hawaiian community, and to the local communities in Chile, respectively.

The Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) Telescope, is a joint project of the Ministrio da Cincia, Tecnologia e Inovaes do Brasil (MCTIC/LNA), NSFs NOIRLab, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), and Michigan State University (MSU).

The Las Cumbres Observatory global telescope network is a non-profit science institute with the mission of advancing science and education has five telescopes between 0.4 and 1.0 meters deployed at CTIO.

The Bok 2.3-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory is operated by Steward Observatory at the University of Arizona.

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Astronomers Sink Their Teeth Into Special Supernova Exploding Stars Produce the Calcium in Our Bones and Teeth - SciTechDaily