October 14, 1999 Pratt Conference Room, Perkin G-04, 12:30 pm
Optical and Infrared Astronomy Division Talk
What's Happening with SN 1987A
Dr. Peter Garnavich, CfA
The blast wave from supernova 1987A has started
to interact with its circumstellar environment
in two ways. It has reached the dense ring gas
at one point and produced a "hotspot" first
detectable with HST in 1996. The hotspot has
brightened exponentially and will soon out shine
the rest of the circumstellar gas. The blast wave
has also been interacting with low density gas
inside the circumstellar ring and this has forced
a reverse shock into the supernova ejecta which is
now easily observed with HST. The reverse shock
can be used to measure a geometric distance to SN 1987A
which is independent of the geometric distance
found by the ionization of the circumstellar ring.