SN 2009bb was a broad-line Type Ic supernova discovered by the CHilean Automated Supernova sEarch aka CHASE on 2009 March 21.11 UT with the Panchromatic Robotic Optical Monitoring and Polarimetry Telescope (PROMPT) 3 located on Cerro Tololo (Pignata et al. 2009). This object was not visible in an unfiltered CHASE image (mag < 19.2) obtained two days prior to the discovery image on 2009 March 19.20 UT. The short time interval between the CHASE images with negative and positive detection allows us to place strong constraints on its explosion date. We determine the explosion to have occurred on JD=2454910.0 ± 1.0 or 2009 March 19.0 UT.

Here is a composite color (RGB) image constructed from (left) images obtained before the appearance of the supernova and (right) taken when the supernova reached maximum brightness (supernova is indicated with an arrow). These images were obtained with the Swope telescope located at The Las Campanas Observatory.

And here are the above pictures combined in a little animation:

Because this supernova was discovered so soon after explosion the Millennium Center for Supernova Studies (MCSS) and the Carnegie Supernova Project (CSP) conducted an intensive follow-up campaign. A week after discovery we classified SN 2009bb as a broad-line Type Ic supernova (Stritzinger et al. 2009).

Here is a montage of early phase spectra taken with telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory and the Gemini-South telescope.

And here are preliminary optical and near-infrared light curves obtained by CHASE and the CSP.

Significant radio emission suggests that SN 2009bb was accompanied by a mildly-relativistic outflow indicating that the explosion was powered by a central engine, i.e. an accreting black hole or a neutron star (Soderberg et al. 2010). To date, such radio emission has only been seen in broad-line Type Ic supernova associated with a long-duration gamma-ray burst. This makes SN 2009bb the first case of this unique class of supernova to be identified solely through long-wavelength observations and not from prompt gammay-ray emission.

Updated list of References:

Levesque, E., et al. 2010, ApJ, L709, 26

Pignata, G., et al. 2009, CBET, 1731, 1

Pignata, G., Stritzinger, M., et al. 2011, ApJ, 728, 14

Soderberg, A., et al. 2010, Nature, 463, 513

Stritzinger, M., et al. 2009, CBET, 1751, 1

This page was last updated on Oct. 20, 2011.

Maximilian Stritzinger

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