Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-7qhmt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T14:23:22.950Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Spectropolarimetry of SN 1987A with the AAT

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 April 2016

Jeremy Bailey*
Affiliation:
Anglo-Australian Observatory

Abstract

Spectropolarimetric observations of SN 1987A obtained with the AAT are presented and discussed. The foreground interstellar polarization is estimated to have a value of 0.8% at position angle 40°. In the early stages polarization features on the absorption troughs of the P-Cygni profiles are observed. At later stages the polarization is dominated by the effects of electron scattering. After correction for the effects of interstellar polarization the position angle of the electron scattering polarization is 110°. The spectrum of the polarized radiation shows broad redshifted features corresponding to the emission lines which can be understood as the consequence of electron scattering in an expanding atmosphere. The position angle observed is consistent with the elongation of the supernova image seen by speckle inteferometry.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bailey, J.A., Hough, J.H., 1982, Publ. Astron. Soc. Pac. 94, 618.Google Scholar
Bailey, J., Ogura, K., Sato, S., 1987 IAU Cire. #4351.Google Scholar
Barrett, P., 1987a, IAU Circ. #4337.Google Scholar
Barrett, P., 1987b, IAU Circ. #4340.Google Scholar
Benvenuto, O., Clachiatti, A., Feinstein, C., Garcia, B., Luna, H., Mendez, M., Morrell, N., 1987, IAU Circ. #4358.Google Scholar
Cropper, M.S., Bailey, J.A., Peacock, T.I., Wickramsinghe, D.T., 1987a, IAU Circ. #4319.Google Scholar
Cropper, M.S., Bailey, J., McCowage, J., Cannon, R.D. Couch, W.J., Walsh, J.R., Straede, J.O., Freeman, F. 1987b, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 231, 695.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jeffery, D., 1987, Nature 329, 419.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karovska, M., Nisenson, P., Noyes, R., Papaliolos, C. 1987, IAU Circ. #4382.Google Scholar
Karovska, M., Koechlin, L., Nisenson, P., Papaliolos, C. Standley, C., 1988, IAU Circ. #4604.Google Scholar
Magalhaes, A.M., Velloso, E.W., 1987, IAU Circ. #4361.Google Scholar
McLean, I.S., Heathcote, S.R., Paterson, M.J., Fordham, J., Shortridge, K., 1984, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 209, 655.Google Scholar
Meikle, W.P.S., Matcher, S.J., Morgan, B.L., 1987, Nature 329, 608.Google Scholar
Schwarz, H.E., 1987 IAU Circ. #4339.Google Scholar