The Disappearance of the Progenitors of Supernovae 1993J and 2003gd
Justyn R. Maund1,2,* and
Stephen J. Smartt3
Using images from the Hubble Space Telescope and the Gemini
Telescope, we confirmed the disappearance of the progenitors
of two type II supernovae (SNe) and evaluated the presence of
other stars associated with them. We found that the progenitor
of SN 2003gd, an M-supergiant star, is no longer observed at
the SN location and determined its intrinsic brightness using
image subtraction techniques. The progenitor of SN 1993J, a
K-supergiant star, is also no longer present, but its B-supergiant
binary companion is still observed. The disappearance of the
progenitors confirms that these two supernovae were produced
by red supergiants.
2 Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
3 Astrophysics Research Centre, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: justyn{at}dark-cosmology.dk
