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A massive hypergiant star as the progenitor of the supernova SN 2005gl

Author

Listed:
  • A. Gal-Yam

    (Benoziyo Center for Astrophysics , Faculty of Physics, The Weizmann Institute of Science)

  • D. C. Leonard

    (San Diego State University, San Diego, California 92182, USA)

Abstract

Supernovae out of the blue The supernova SN 1987A looms large when it comes to testing models of the late stages of the evolution of massive stars: it is the only supernova for which a progenitor star was known at the precise supernova location before the explosion. The progenitor was a blue supergiant, which is not what the then-current models of stellar evolution had predicted. Now a progenitor has been conclusively identified for a second supernova, SN 2005gl. Images from the Hubble archive, taken in 1997, confirm that the very luminous point source NGC266_LBV 1 was present at the exact location of SN 2005gl. In Hubble observations from 2007, this object has completely vanished. So the SN 2005gl progenitor was a luminous blue variable that, according to standard stellar evolution, should not have exploded in that state. Further revisions of stellar evolution models are therefore in order.

Suggested Citation

  • A. Gal-Yam & D. C. Leonard, 2009. "A massive hypergiant star as the progenitor of the supernova SN 2005gl," Nature, Nature, vol. 458(7240), pages 865-867, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:458:y:2009:i:7240:d:10.1038_nature07934
    DOI: 10.1038/nature07934
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