Astronomy:SN 2007bi

Short description: Supernova in the constellation Virgo

SN 2007bi

Other designations	SN 2007bi
Spectral class	type Ic
Date	by Nearby Supernova Factory USA
Constellation	Virgo
Right ascension	13h 19m 20.19s
Declination	+08° 55' 44.3
Epoch	J2000.0
Galactic coordinates	324.1496 +70.6427
Host	Anon J131920+0855

SN 2007bi was an extremely energetic supernova discovered early in 2007 by the international Nearby Supernova Factory based at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The precursor star is estimated to have had 200 solar masses at the time of its formation and around 100 solar masses in its core when it went supernova. The explosion ejected more than 22 solar masses of silicon and other heavy elements into space during this supernova including more than 6 solar masses of radioactive nickel which caused the expanding gases to glow very brightly for many months.

The supernova has been described as an unambiguous fit for the pair-instability supernova model.

References

• SIMBAD data

Further reading

• Gal-Yam, A. et al. (2009), "Supernova 2007bi as a pair-instability explosion", Nature 462 (7273): 624–627, doi:10.1038/nature08579, PMID 19956255, Bibcode: 2009Natur.462..624G 

External links

• Light curves and spectra on the Open Supernova Catalog
• New Scientist, "Death of rare giant star sheds light on cosmic past"
• Science Daily, "Superbright Supernova Is First of Its Kind"
• Keck Observatory, "First of its kind superbright supernova"
• Nature, "Full report submitted by scientists to the journal Nature"
• Weizmann Institute, "First hand description of the study"