Astrophysics, abstract
astro-ph/0606132

From: Ben Sugerman [view email]

Date: Tue, 6 Jun 2006 21:59:34 GMT (215kb)

Massive-Star Supernovae as Major Dust Factories

Authors: Ben E. K. Sugerman, Barbara Ercolano, M. J. Barlow, A. G. G. M. Tielens, Geoffrey C. Clayton, Albert A. Zijlstra, Margaret Meixner, Angela Speck, Tim M. Gledhill, Nino Panagia, Martin Cohen, Karl D. Gordon, Martin Meyer, Joanna Fabbri, J. E. Bowey, Douglas L. Welch, Michael W. Regan, Robert C. Kennicutt, Jr

Comments: 11 pages, 1 figure. Accepted 2006 May 30 for publication in Science; Published in 2006 May 8 edition of ScienceExpress

We present late-time optical and mid-infrared observations of the Type-II supernova 2003gd in NGC 628. Mid-infrared excesses consistent with cooling dust in the ejecta are observed 499-678 days after outburst, and are accompanied by increasing optical extinction and growing asymmetries in the emission-line profiles. Radiative-transfer models show that up to 0.02 solar masses of dust has formed within the ejecta, beginning as early as 250 days after outburst. These observations show that dust formation in supernova ejecta can be efficient and that massive-star supernovae can be major dust producers throughout the history of the Universe.

http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0606132