WR stars are massive stars and strip the outer shell of hydrogen, which is associated with the fusion of helium and other elements in the massive nucleus. Tracking certain types of massive supernova explosions can help probe these stars, which remain an enigma to scientists around the world.
The four Indian scientists from the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital, an autonomous institute within the Department of Science and Technology and 16 scientists from various institutes in the US, UK, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Sweden and Korea performed optical monitoring of such a naked-shelled supernova called SN 2015dj hosted on the Galaxy NGC 7371. They calculated the mass of the star that collapsed to form the supernova, as well as the geometry of its ejection. Scientists have also discovered that the original star was a combination of two stars – one of them is a massive WR star and the other is a much smaller star in mass than the Sun.
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Mridweeka Singh from South Korea, who was part of ARIES when the supernova was discovered, said: “This supernova was discovered in 2015. We observed the supernova for up to 170 days after its discovery. Subsequently, I submitted the manuscript in February last year and it was accepted on January 22 this year. The paper is now available online and is published. ”
Mridweeka, who moved to South Korea in 2019 after leaving the institute and currently works for the Korean Institute of Astronomy and Space Sciences, told Mridweeka
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, „SN 2015dj is an Ib type supernova whose progenitor was in a binary system with a mass between 13 and 20 M_sun. The geometry of the explosion was symmetrical for this supernova. ”The team’s discovery and detailed study were recently published in“ The Astrophysical journal‘.
Supernovae (SNe) are extremely energetic explosions in the universe, releasing an enormous amount of energy. Long-term monitoring of these transients opens the door to understanding the nature of the exploding star, as well as the properties of the explosion. It can also help list the number of massive stars.
Long-term monitoring of these transients opens the door to understanding the nature of the exploding star, as well as the properties of the explosion. It can also help list the number of massive stars.