A Light Echo Candidate from Supernova 2009ig
Abstract
Deep imaging of the nearby type Ia supernova 2009ig shows that its optical light curve stopped fading about 700 days after B-band maximum light. The photometry was obtained by the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) starting a year after the explosion. Normally, type Ia at late-times are powered by radioactive decay and their broad-band light curves continuously fade at between 1.0 and 1.5 mag/100 days. The continued visibility of SN 2009ig suggests that the emission is now dominated by a light echo or an existing faint source that was present along the site line. From the early light curve, SN 2009ig appears to be a normal type Ia with minimal host dust extinction. The candidate light echo is 10 V-band magnitudes fainter than the supernova at peak, and this means it is slightly more luminous than other light echoes seen from type Ia events such as SN 1991T, 1995E, and 1998bu. However, the estimated light-of-sight extinction to SN 2009ig is unusually low for a supernova showing a light echo.
- Publication:
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American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- June 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AAS...22220904G