NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2009A-0446
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NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2009A-0446 |
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PI: P. Frank Winkler, Middlebury College, winkler@middlebury.edu
Address: Department of Physics, Bicentennial Hall, Middlebury, VT 05753, USA
CoI: Knox S. Long, STScI
CoI: William P. Blair, The Johns Hopkins University
CoI: Probable undergraduate, Middlebury College
Title: Searching for Young Supernova Remnants in the Most Fertile Galaxies
Abstract: We propose a program of emission-line imaging of NGC 6946 and M83, the two galaxies that have been the most prolific producers of supernovae over the past century. Our most important goal is to expand, perhaps substantially, the list (now numbering only 8) of oxygen-rich remnants where pure ejecta from core-collapse SNe can be studied. Extrapolating from the past, we expect ~ 150 core-collapse SNe within the past ~ 1000\; yr in the two galaxies; surely some of these produced detectable remnants. Other goals are to obtain a more complete inventory of ``ordinary" SNRs, whose optical emission is dominated by filaments of shocked ISM and/or CSM. New radio and optical surveys of these and other galaxies are yielding extensive samples of SNRs, but there is little overlap among the samples from optical, radio, and X-ray bands. Expanding the optical sample may lead to more overlap, or at least to more understanding of the differences. Finally, we will supplement the emission-line images with broad-band ones to help us understand the SNR samples in the context of the underlying stellar populations.
National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 North Cherry Avenue, P.O. Box 26732, Tucson, Arizona 85726, Phone: (520) 318-8000, Fax: (520) 318-8360
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NOAO > Observing Info > Approved Programs > 2009A-0446 |
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