Related papers: SN 1987A - Presupernova Evolution and the Progenit…
Red Supergiants (RSGs) are cool, evolved massive stars in their final evolutionary stage before exploding as a supernova. However, the evolution and fate of the most luminous RSGs remain uncertain. Observational evidence for luminous warm,…
The volume around the SN 1987A contains a variety of structures, including but certainly not limited to the three-ring nebula glowing in recombination lines. Many of these structures are revealed by light echoes, hence have been mapped in…
Mergers of binary neutron stars (NSs) usually result in the formation of a hypermassive neutron star (HMNS). Whether- and when this remnant collapses to a black hole (BH) depends primarily on the equation of state and on angular momentum…
The outer rings (ORs) of Supernova (SN) 1987A were ejected ~20000 years before the explosion. Their characterisation is crucial for constraining the properties of the progenitor of this famous SN. While numerous studies investigated in…
After nearly two decades at least five emission mechanisms can be found in SN 1987A. The ejecta continue to glow as a result of the radioactive decay of long-lived nuclei (mostly 44Ti), but is fading continuously because of the expansion…
It is becoming clear that `self--pollution' by the ejecta of massive asymptotic giant branch stars has an important role in the early chemical evolution of globular cluster stars, producing CNO abundance spreads which are observed also at…
The nature of the progenitor star (or system) for the Type IIn supernova (SN) subclass remains uncertain. While there are direct imaging constraints on the progenitors of at least four Type IIn supernovae, one of them being SN 2010jl,…
The observation of neutrinos from Supernova 1987A has confirmed the theoretical conjecture that these particles play a crucial role during the collapse of the core of a massive star. Only one per cent of the energy they carry away from the…
We propose that the delayed conversion of a neutron star (NS) into either a quark star (QS) or a hybrid star (HS), occurring approximately 105-109 days after the supernova (SN) explosion, injects ~ 2e49 erg of thermal energy into the…
Current massive star evolution grids are not able to simultaneously reproduce the empirical upper luminosity limit of red supergiants, the Humphrey-Davidson (HD) limit at high and low metallicity. In this study, we provide a better…
We calculate a grid of models with and without the effects of axial rotation for massive stars in the range of 9 to 60 M$_{\odot}$ and metallicity $Z$ = 0.004 appropriate for the SMC. Remarkably, the ratios $\Omega/\Omega_{\mathrm{crit}}$…
Ground-based optical spectra and Hubble Space Telescope images of ten core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) obtained several years to decades after outburst are analyzed with the aim of understanding the general properties of their late-time…
The effects of rapid rotation on stellar evolution can be profound. We are now beginning to gather enough data to allow a realistic comparison between different physical models. Two key tests for any theory of stellar rotation are first…
We report the identification of a source coincident with SN 2009kr in HST pre-explosion images. The object appears to be a single point source with an intrinsic colour V-I = 1.1 and M_V = -7.6. If this is a single star it would be a yellow…
We present optical observations of supernova SN 2014C, which underwent an unprecedented slow metamorphosis from H-poor type Ib to H-rich type IIn over the course of one year. The observed spectroscopic evolution is consistent with the…
We report an up-turn in the soft X-ray light curve of supernova remnant (SNR) 1987A in late 2003 (~6200 days after the explosion), as observed with the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Since early 2004, the rapid increase of the 0.5-2 keV band…
We summarize the analysis of a uniform set of both previously-known and newly-discovered scattered-light echoes, detected within 30" of SN 1987A in ten years of optical imaging, and with which we have constructed the most complete…
[HP99] 159 is remarkable as the first supersoft X-ray source (SSS) identified with an evolved helium star donor. With a likely orbital period of 1.164 d or 2.327 d, the origin of the SSS component is controversial, with the two current…
(Abridged) Recent JWST observations of Cassiopeia A (Cas A) reveal unprecedented ejecta substructure, including a web of filaments and the enigmatic "Green Monster" (GM), characterized by nearly circular holes and rings. These features…
The observation of SN 1997ff at redshift 1.7 has been claimed to refute alternative models such as grey dust or evolution for the faintness of distant supernovae, leaving only an accelerating Universe as a viable model. However, a very…