Discovery of an Exceptional Optical Nebulosity in the Suspected Galactic SN Iax Remnant Pa 30 Linked to the Historical Guest Star of 1181 CE
arXiv:2301.04809 · doi:10.3847/2041-8213/acbb67
Abstract
A newly recognized young Galactic SN remnant, Pa 30 (G123.1+4.6), centered on a hot central star with a ~16,000 km/s wind velocity has recently been proposed to be the result of a double-degenerate merger leading to a SN Iax event associated with the guest star of 1181 CE. Here we present deep optical [S II] 6716,6731 images of Pa 30 which reveal an extraordinary and highly structured nebula 170" in diameter with dozens of long (5" - 20") radially aligned filaments with a convergence point near the hot central star. Optical spectra of filaments indicate a peak expansion velocity ~1100 km/s with electron densities of <100 to 700 cm^-3, and a thick shell-like structure resembling its appearance in 22 micron WISE images. No H-alpha emission was seen (I[6716/H-alpha] >5), with the only other line emission detected being faint [Ar III] 7136 suggesting a S, Ar-rich but H-poor remnant. The nebula's angular size, estimated 2.3 kpc distance, and 1100 km/s expansion velocity are consistent with an explosion date around 1181 CE. The remnant's unusual appearance may be due to the photoionization of wind-driven ejecta due to clump-wind interactions caused by the central star's high-luminosity wind.
arXiv comment9 pages, 5 figures; revised text plus a new figure; Accepted for publication in the ApJ Letters
References in corpus (21)
- Type Iax Supernovae: A New Class of Stellar Explosion
- Late-Time Spectroscopy of SN 2002cx: The Prototype of a New Subclass of Type Ia Supernovae
- Discovery of X-ray Pulsations from the Compact Central Source in the Supernova Remnant 3C 58
- Discovery of radio pulsations from the X-ray pulsar J0205+6449 in supernova remnant 3C58 with the Green Bank Telescope
- Possible Detection of the Stellar Donor or Remnant for the Type Iax Supernova 2008ha
- Knots in the Helix Nebula found in H2
- Radio Images of 3C 58: Expansion and Motion of its Wisp
- Dynamical and Pressure Structures in Winds with Multiple Embedded Evaporating Clumps I. 2D Numerical Simulations
- Wait for it: Post-supernova winds driven by delayed radioactive decays
- Double-Degenerate Carbon-Oxygen and Oxygen-Neon White Dwarf Mergers: A New Mechanism for Faint and Rapid Type Ia Supernovae
- A massive white-dwarf merger product before final collapse
- Ejecta Knot Flickering, Mass Ablation, and Fragmentation in Cassiopeia A
- The Orion Fingers: Near-IR Adaptive Optics Imaging of an Explosive Protostellar Outflow
- X-rays observations of a super-Chandrasekhar object reveal an ONeMg and a CO white dwarf merger product embedded in a putative SN Iax remnant
- Still Brighter than Pre-Explosion, SN 2012Z Did Not Disappear: Comparing Hubble Space Telescope Observations a Decade Apart
- GK Per (Nova Persei 1901): HST Imagery and Spectroscopy of the Ejecta, and First Spectrum of the Jet-Like Feature
- SN 2020kyg and the rates of faint Iax Supernovae from ATLAS
- A new study on a type Iax stellar remnant and its probable association with SN 1181
- Evidence for ablated flows in the shell of nova DQ Her
- The tails in the Helix Nebula NGC 7293
- The optically thick rotating magnetic wind from a massive white dwarf merger product