The first evidence that a yellow supergiant became a supernova
Friday, October 5, 2012 - 08:00
in Astronomy & Space
A group of researchers led by Melina Bersten (Kavli IPMU) has presented evidence that the yellow supergiant (YSG) star found at the location of supernova SN 2011dh in the famous nearby galaxy M51 was indeed the SN progenitor, as well as produced a self-consistent model to explain how a star of such characteristics exploded. In their model, the exploding YSG star was a member of a close binary system. The authors further predict the detection of the companion star as a definitive test of their hypothesis. Their paper has been published in the September 20, 2012, issue of The Astrophysical Journal.