SN 1181
 Pa 30 is the presumed remnant. | |
F  | |
| Date | between August 4 and August 6, 1181 |
|---|---|
| Constellation | Cassiopeia |
| Right ascension | 00h 53m 11.2s |
| Declination | +67° 30′ 02.4″ |
| Epoch | J2000 |
| Remnant | Pa 30 |
| Host | Milky Way |
| Notable features | Visible at night for 185 days |
| Peak apparent magnitude | 0? |
| Preceded by | SN 1054 |
| Followed by | SN 1572 |
First observed between August 4 and August 6, 1181, Chinese and Japanese astronomers recorded the supernova now known as SN 1181 in eight separate texts. One of only five supernovae in the Milky Way confidently identified in pre-telescopic records,[1] it appeared in the constellation Cassiopeia and was visible and non-moving for 185 days. F. R. Stephenson first recognized that the 1181 AD `guest star' must be a supernova, because such a bright transient that lasts for 185 days and does not move in the sky can only be a galactic supernova[2].
Original Candidate Remnant: 3C 58
The only plausible conventional supernova remnant in the historical area is the radio and X-ray pulsar J0205+6449 (also known as 3C 58), which rotates about 15 times per second. If the supernova and pulsar are associated, the star is still rotating about as quickly as it did when it first formed.[3] This is in contrast to the Crab pulsar, known to be the remnant of the SN 1054 supernova in the year 1054, which has lost two-thirds of its rotational energy in essentially the same time span.[4]
The proper motion of the expanding shell of 3C 58 has been measured three times, always with an age of around 3500 years. Further, a collection of age measures from eight methods returns ages from 2400 to 7000 years.[5] So 3C 58 is not the remnant of SN 1181.
Supernova Remnant Pa 30
In 2013, American amateur astronomer Dana Patchick discovered the shell and central star of Pa 30. [6] Patchick had been systematically searching the infrared all-sky survey of the WISE satellite for shells around stars. Patchick discovered 41 stars with shells, and the traditional designation is the discoverer's initials plus a running index number, so Patchick's new nebula in Cassiopeia is designated Pa 30. Pa 30 appeared as a nearly-round nebula roughly 171x156 arc-seconds in size, with an extremely blue central star. The shell is bright in the infrared, but very faint in the optical, at first only seen by the light of [O III].
Gvaramadze et al. (2019)[7] used optical spectroscopy to see the central star as a very hot star with an intense stellar wind expanding at an incredible rate of 16,000 km/s and a composition mainly of carbon, oxygen, and neon (with no hydrogen or helium). They realized that this could only arise from a supernova, more specifically from a merger of two white dwarfs. Oskinova et al. (2020)[8] used X-ray spectroscopy to reveal a very hot nebula composed mainly of carbon, oxygen, and neon, all with an age of order 8 centuries. The unique Pa 30 could only have been made by a supernova, but this supernova could not be any of the common classes, for example, with core-collapse and Type Ia supernovae producing neutron stars or black holes but not any white dwarfs with a fierce stellar wind. Oskinova et al. connected Pa 30 with the rare sub-class called `sub-luminous Type Iax Supernova' and pointed to a merger of a CO white dwarf and an ONe white dwarf.
Ritter et al. (2021)[9] made the connection from the supernova remnant Pa 30 back to the Supernova of 1181 AD. In October 2022, Professor Rob Fesen obtained deep narrowband imagery in the light of [SII] that recorded fine filaments not revealed until now.[10][11]
See also
References
- ^ Stephenson, F. Richard; Green, David (2002). Historical Supernovae and their Remnants. ISBN 0-19-850766-6.
- ^ Stephenson, F. Richard (1971). "A Suspected Supernova in A. D. 1181". Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society. 12: 10–38. Bibcode:1971QJRAS..12...10S.
- ^ Panagia, N.; Weiler, K. W. (1980). "The absolute magnitude and the type classification of SN 1181 equals 3 C 58". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 82 (3): 389–391. Bibcode:1980A&A....82..389P.
- ^ Galas, C. M. F.; Tuohy, I. R.; Garmire, G. P. (1980). "Soft X-ray observations of the supernova remnants HB 3 and 3C 58". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 236: L13–L16. Bibcode:1980ApJ...236L..13G. doi:10.1086/183188.
- ^ Fesen, Robert; Rudie, Gwen; Hurford, Alan; Soto, Aljeandro (2008). "Optical Imaging and Spectroscopy of the Galactic Supernova Remnant 3C 58 (G130.7+3.1)". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 174: 379–395. Bibcode:2008ApJS..174..379F. doi:10.1086/522781.
- ^ Kronberger, M.; et al. (2014). New Planetary Nebulae and Candidates from Multicolour Multiwavelength Surveys (PDF). Asymmetrical Planetary Nebulae VI conference.
- ^ Gvaramadze, Vasilii V.; et al. (2019). "A massive white-dwarf merger product before final collapse". Nature. 569 (7758): 684–687. arXiv:1904.00012. Bibcode:2019Natur.569..684G. doi:10.1038/s41586-019-1216-1.
- ^ Oskinova, Lidia M.; et al. (2020). "X-rays observations of a super-Chandrasekhar object reveal an ONe and a CO white dwarf merger product embedded in a putative SN Iax remnant". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 644: L8. arXiv:2008.10612. Bibcode:2020A&A...644L...8O. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202039232.
- ^ Ritter, Andreas; et al. (2021). "The Remnant and Origin of the Historical Supernova 1181 AD". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 918: L33. arXiv:2105.12384. Bibcode:2021ApJ...918L..33R. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/ac2253.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link) - ^ Hall, Shannon (January 26, 2023). "Weird supernova remnant blows scientists' minds". Nature. 614 (7947): 206. Bibcode:2023Natur.614..206H. doi:10.1038/d41586-023-00202-1. PMID 36702966.
- ^ Fesen, Robert A.; Schaefer, Bradley E.; Patchick, Dana (January 11, 2023). "Discovery of an Exceptional Optical Nebulosity in the Suspected Galactic SN Iax Remnant Pa 30 Linked to the Historical Guest Star of 1181 CE". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 945 (1): L4. arXiv:2301.04809. Bibcode:2023ApJ...945L...4F. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/acbb67.
