Published September 2011
| public
Journal Article
Transients in the local Universe: systematically bridging the gap between novae and supernovae
Abstract
The venerable study of cosmic explosions is over a century old. However, until recently, there has existed a glaring six-magnitude luminosity gap between the brightest novae and faintest supernovae. To find optical transients that are fainter, faster and rarer than supernovae, we designed a systematic search: the ``Palomar Transient Factory''. Theorists predict a variety of mechanisms to produce transients in the gap and observers have the best chance of finding them in the local Universe. Here I present discoveries and unique physics of cosmic explosions that bridge this gap between novae and supernovae.
Additional Information
© 2011 Astronomical Society of India. Edited and published by D. J. Saikia, National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, TIFR, Pune 411 007, India, for the Astronomical Society of India, and typeset and printed at Vykat Prints Pvt. Ltd., Airport Road Cross (opp ISRO), Bengaluru 560 017. Received 2011 October 12; accepted 2011 October 19. MMK acknowledges support from NASA's Hubble Fellowship and the Carnegie-Princeton Fellowship. The Palomar Transient Factory is a fully-automated, wide-field survey aimed at a systematic exploration of explosions and variable phenomena in optical wavelengths. The program is centered on a 12K×8K, 7.8 square degree CCD array (CFH12K) re-engineered for the 1.2-m Oschin Telescope at the Palomar Observatory by Caltech Optical Observatories. Photometric follow-up is undertaken by the automated Palomar 1.5-m telescope and other telescopes provided by consortium members including UC Berkeley, Weizman Institute, Israel, LCOGT and University of Oxford. For more information, see http://www.astro.caltech.edu/ptf.Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 29244
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20120210-142552292
- NASA Hubble Fellowship
- Carnegie-Princeton Fellowship
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2012-02-10Created from EPrint's datestamp field
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2019-10-03Created from EPrint's last_modified field