Description
Kathryn E. Weil (speaker), Robert A. Fesen
We report the detection of broad oxygen emission lines from the site of SN 1941C nearly eight decades after outburst, making it the oldest detected core-collapse SN/youngest core-collapse SNR with a well determined age. In sharp contrast to the strongly blueshifted emission line profiles observed for some other late-time CCSNe thought to be due to dust extinction of rear hemisphere ejecta, SN 1941C's spectrum exhibits stronger redshifted emissions of [O I] 6300, 6364 [O II] 7320, 7330, and [O III] 4959, 5007. The oxygen emissions have rest frame radial velocities from -2200 to +4400 km/s. No other significant broad line emissions were detected including H-alpha emission. We discuss possible causes for this unusual spectrum and compare SN 1941C's optical and X-ray luminosities to other evolved CCSNe.
