Possible Supernova 2009 in M82

Possible Supernova 2009 was detected in M82 as compact transient radio source in the central region of the starburst galaxy M82. It was found in continuous monitoring observations made between 1st and 5th May 2009 made with the UK's MERLIN radio telescope array operated at Jodrell Banks at 4994 MHz. It had not been present in previos observations made April 24-27, but was confirmed May 26-27, May 27-28, and June 5-6 at varios radio frequencies (Muxlow et.al. 2009). It was repeatedly seen in radio but not in other ranges of the spectrum.

While this event might have been caused by a very obstructed supernova, these observations could also be explained differently, e.g. by beamed emission from a X-ray binary.

Possible SN 2009 in M82 discovery announce (ATel 2073, Muxlow et.al. 2009)
Possible SN 2009 in M82 Resources, by David Bishop
Messier Galaxies and their Supernovae and Supernovae in Messier Catalog Galaxies pages
Supernova 2004am in M82
Supernova 2008iz in M82
Supernova 2014J in M82

References

T.W.B. Muxlow, R.J. Beswick, A. Pedlar, D. Fenech, M.K. Argo, M. J. Ward, A. Zezas, 2009. Discovery of a new transient radio source in the central region of M82. The Astronomer's Telegram, #2073 (June 9, 2009). Available online. [ADS: 2009ATel.2073....1M]

Hartmut Frommert
Christine Kronberg
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Last Modification: January 20, 2012