The impostor revealed: SN 2016jbu was a terminal explosion

Abstract

In this letter, we present recent observations from the Hubble Space Telescope of the interacting transient, SN 2016jbu, at +5 years. We find no evidence for any additional outburst from SN 2016jbu, and the optical source has now faded significantly below the progenitor magnitudes from early 2016. Similar to recent observations of SN 2009ip and SN 2015bh, SN 2016jbu has not undergone a significant change in colour over the past 2 years, suggesting that there is a lack of on-going dust formation. We find SN 2016jbu is fading slower than that expected from radioactive nickel, but faster than the decay of SN 2009ip. The late time light curve displays a non-linear decline and follows on from a re-brightening event that occurred $\sim$8 months after peak brightness, suggesting CSM interaction continues to dominate SN 2016jbu. While our optical observations are plausibly consistent with a surviving, hot, dust-enshrouded star, this would require an implausibly large dust mass. These new observations suggest that SN 2016jbu is a genuine, albeit strange, supernova, and we discuss the plausibility of a surviving binary companion.

5 pages, 4 figures, submitted to A&A letters

References in corpus (13)

• A grid of MARCS model atmospheres for late-type stars I. Methods and general properties
• Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis Version 2.1: construction, observational verification and new results
• Confined Dense Circumstellar Material Surrounding a Regular Type II Supernova: The Unique Flash-Spectroscopy Event of SN 2013fs
• On the consistent treatment of the quasi-hydrostatic layers in hot star atmospheres
• The timing and location of dust formation in the remnant of SN 1987A
• Supernovae 2016bdu and 2005gl, and their link with SN 2009ip-like transients: another piece of the puzzle
• Connecting the progenitors, pre-explosion variability, and giant outbursts of luminous blue variables with Gaia16cfr
• Simulating the formation of $\eta$ Carinae's surrounding nebula through unstable triple evolution and stellar merger-induced eruption
• SN 2009ip after a decade: The luminous blue variable progenitor is now gone
• Photometric and spectroscopic evolution of the interacting transient AT 2016jbu (Gaia16cfr)
• The Candidate Progenitor Companion Star of the Type Ib/c SN 2013ge
• Progenitor, environment, and modelling of the interacting transient, AT 2016jbu (Gaia16cfr)
• The impostor revealed: SN 2016jbu was a terminal explosion

Cited by in corpus (13)

• The disappearances of six supernova progenitors
• Identifying the SN 2022acko progenitor with JWST
• Gap Transients Interacting with Circumstellar Medium
• The impostor revealed: SN 2016jbu was a terminal explosion
• Searching for precursor activity of Type IIn Supernovae
• Repeating periodic eruptions of the supernova impostor SN 2000ch
• The landscape of binary core-collapse supernova progenitors and the late emergence of Wolf-Rayet winds
• A Snapshot Survey of Nearby Supernovae with the Hubble Space Telescope
• The enigmatic double-peaked stripped-envelope SN 2023aew
• A long-lasting eruption heralds SN 2023ldh, a clone of SN 2009ip
• A study on late time UV-emission in core collapse supernovae and the implications for the peculiar transient AT2018cow
• SN 2024hpj: A perspective on SN 2009ip-like events
• The Age of the R127 & R128 Clusters: Implications for the LBV