Changes in the Optical Remnant of Kepler's Supernova during the Period 1942--1989
Abstract
Images of the optical nebulosity associated with Kepler's supernova have been obtained at the Mount Wilson Observatory in 1941-1943, at the Palomar Observatory in 1950-1983, and on La Silla in 1989. These data have been used to study the luminosity evolution of individual knots and the expansion and translation of the optical remnant of Kepler's supernova of 1604. From the study of the motions of 50 long-lived knots, expansion is -0.623 + or - 0.045 arcsec/century, translation is 0.484 + or - 0.049 arcsec/century, and expansion time scale of 32,000 + or - 12,000 yr. For an assumed distance of 4.5 kpc the centroid of the nebulosity tangential velocity is 117 + or - 10 km/s to the W and 105 + or - 11 km/s to the N. By combining astrometric and spectroscopic information, a space velocity of 278 + or - 12 km/s is estimated. This indicates that the progenitor of SN 1604 was a high-velocity object. It could have been either a Population II star or a massive high-velocity runaway star.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- June 1991
- DOI:
- 10.1086/170108
- Bibcode:
- 1991ApJ...374..186B
- Keywords:
-
- Nebulae;
- Stellar Evolution;
- Supernova Remnants;
- Astronomical Catalogs;
- Astronomical Spectroscopy;
- Charge Coupled Devices;
- Light Curve;
- Stellar Mass;
- Astronomy;
- NEBULAE: INDIVIDUAL NAME: KEPLER'S SUPERNOVA;
- NEBULAE: INTERNAL MOTIONS;
- NEBULAE: SUPERNOVA REMNANTS