Chandra observations of SN 1987A: the soft X-ray light curve revisited
Abstract
We report on the present stage of SN 1987A as observed by the Chandra X-ray Observatory. We reanalyze published Chandra observations and add three more epochs of Chandra data to get a consistent picture of the evolution of the X-ray fluxes in several energy bands. We discuss the implications of several calibration issues for Chandra data. Using the most recent Chandra calibration files, we find that the 0.5-2.0 keV band fluxes of SN 1987A have increased by ~6 x 10 ^-13 erg s^-1 cm^-2 per year since 2009. This is in contrast with our previous result that the 0.5-2.0 keV light curve showed a sudden flattening in 2009. Based on our new analysis, we conclude that the forward shock is still in full interaction with the equatorial ring.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1212.2664,
title = {Chandra observations of SN 1987A: the soft X-ray light curve revisited},
author = {E. A. Helder and P. S. Broos and D. Dewey and E. Dwek and R. McCray and S. Park and J. L. Racusin and S. A. Zhekov and D. N. Burrows},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1212.2664},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
Accepted for publication by ApJ, 7 pages, 5 figures