OSSE Observations of 57Co In SN1987A
Abstract
The Oriented Scintillation Spectrometer Experiment (OSSE) on the COMPTON Gamma Ray Observatory has observed SN1987A for two 2-week periods during the first nine months of the mission. Evidence for gamma-ray line and continuum emission from 57Co is observed with an intensity of about 10(exp-4) gamma-/sq cm s(exp -1). This photon flux between 50 and 136 keV is demonstrated by Monte Carlo calculations to be independent of the radial distribution of the 57Co for models of low optical depth; viz., models having photoelectric absorption losses of 122 keV photons no greater than several percent. For such models the observed 57Co flux indicates that the ratio of 57Ni/56Ni produced in the explosion was about 1.5 times the solar system ratio of 57Fe/56Fe. When compared with nearly contemporaneous bolometric estimates of the luminosity for SN1987A, our observations imply that 57Co radioactivity does not account for most of the current luminosity of the supernova remnant in low-optical-depth models. We suggest alternatives including a large-optical-depth model that is able to provide the SN1987A luminosity and is consistent with the OSSE flux. It requires a 57/56 production ratio of about twice solar.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1992
- Accession Number
- ADA461939
Entities
People
- D. D. Clayton
- David A. Grabelsky
- G. V. Jung
- J. Eric Grove
- James D. Kurfess
- M. D. Leising
- Mark S. Strickman
- Melville P. Ulmer
- R. A. Cameron
- Richard A. Kroeger
- Robert L. Kinzer
- W. Neil Johnson
- William R. Purcell
Organizations
- United States Naval Research Laboratory