1 research outputs found
A postmortem investigation of the Type IIb supernova 2001ig
We present images taken with the GMOS instrument on Gemini-South, in
excellent (<0.5 arcsec) seeing, of SN 2001ig in NGC 7424, ~1000 days after
explosion. A point source seen at the site of the SN is shown to have colours
inconsistent with being an H II region or a SN 1993J-like remnant, but can be
matched to a late-B through late-F supergiant with A_V<1. We believe this
object is the massive binary companion responsible for periodic modulation in
mass loss material around the Wolf-Rayet progenitor which gave rise to
significant structure in the SN radio light curve.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters. Fig. 1
resolution degraded to meet size limitations; full resolution version
available from http://www.aao.gov.au/local/www/sdr/pubs/sn2001ig_gmos.ps.g