Related papers: A Search for Candidate Light Echoes: Photometry of…
Light echoes are a promising tool to probe the environment where SNe Ia explode and an independent source of information on the progenitor's nature. After giving a brief introduction to the phenomenon we review the two known cases, i.e. SNe…
Light echoes occur when light from a luminous transient is scattered by dust back into our line of sight with a time delay due to the extra propagation distance. We introduce a novel approach to estimating the distance to a source by…
We identify a light echo candidate from Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging of NGC 2441, the host galaxy of the Type Ia supernova 1995E. From the echo's angular size and the estimated distance to the host galaxy, we find a distance of 207…
Scattered light echoes from variable and cataclysmic stars offer one of the most effective means to probe the structure and composition of circumtellar and interstellar media. I build a simple model of light-echo surface brightness by…
Following recent claims regarding possible errors in the photometry of SNe carried out at Asiago observatory during the 70's, which produced very blue $(B-V)$ color at maximum for some objects, we present the result of new CCD photometry of…
Photometry is the most easily acquired information about supernovae. The light curves constructed from regular imaging provide signatures not only for the energy input, the radiation escape, the local environment and the progenitor stars,…
In the last ten years, observational evidences about a possible connection between Type Ia Supernovae (SNe) properties and the environment where they explode have been steadily growing. In this paper I discuss, from a theoretical point of…
We have used FORS1 at the ESO VLT to search for light echoes in imaging polarimetry from four historical supernovae in the face-on nearby spiral galaxy M83 (NGC 5236). No echoes were detected around our targets (SN 1923A, SN 1945B, SN 1950B…
The light echo systems of historical supernovae in the Milky Way and local group galaxies provide an unprecedented opportunity to reveal the effects of asymmetry on observables, particularly optical spectra. Scattering dust at different…
We present the measurement of the size and surface brightness of the expanding light echoes from supernova (SN) 2014J in the nearby starburst galaxy M82. Hubble Space Telescope (HST) ACS/WFC images were taken ~277 and ~416 days (after the…
Large numbers of supernovae (SNe) have been discovered in recent years, and many more will be found in the near future. Once discovered, further study of a SN and its possible use as an astronomical tool (e.g., as a distance estimator)…
The Galactic core-collapse supernova (SN) rate is estimated at $\approx 1-3$ per century; however, no optically visible SN has been discovered in the past 400 years. Although records of the last optically detected SN (Cassiopeia A) are…
Light echoes, light from a variable source scattered off dust, have been observed for over a century. The recent discovery of light echoes around centuries-old supernovae in the Milky Way and the Large Magellanic Cloud have allowed the…
We investigate the use of type Ic Super Luminous Supernovae as standardizable candles and distance indicators. Their appeal as cosmological probes stems from their remarkable peak luminosities, hot blackbody temperatures and bright…
Type Ia Supernova(SN Ia) are a powerful, albeit not completely understood, tool for cosmology. Gaps in our understanding of their progenitors and detailed physics can lead to systematic errors in the cosmological distances they measure. We…
I review recent optical observations of supernovae (SNe) conducted by my group. The Lick Observatory Supernova Search with the 0.76-m Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope is currently the world's most successful search for nearby SNe. We…
We present results from a study of optically emitting Supernova Remnants (SNRs) in six nearby galaxies (NGC 2403, NGC 3077, NGC 4214, NGC 4395, NGC 4449 and NGC 5204) based on deep narrow band H{\alpha} and [SII] images as well as…
We have discovered a luminous light echo around the normal Type II-Plateau Supernova (SN) 2012aw in Messier 95 (M95; NGC 3351), detected in images obtained approximately two years after explosion with the Wide Field Channel 3 on-board the…
Using the technique of PSF-matched image subtraction, we have analyzed archival HST/WFPC2 data to reveal details of at least two light-echo structures, including some unknown before now, around SN 1993J in the galaxy M81. In particular, we…
Astronomical light echoes, the time-dependent light scattered by dust in the vicinity of varying objects, have been recognized for over a century. Initially, their utility was thought to be confined to mapping out the three-dimensional…