2022-08-03 13:46:15
Type: Object/s-Discovery/Classification
Detection of possible supernova in JWST images of Galaxy Cluster WHL0137-08
Authors: Sebastian Gomez (STScI), Dan Coe (STScI), Wenlei Chen (UMN), Patrick Kelly (UMN), Lou Strolger (STScI), Gabriel Brammer (DAWN), Mike Engesser (STScI), Justin Pierel (STScI), Ori Fox (STScI), Tea Temim (Princeton U.)
Abstract: Detection of a new source, possibly a supernova, found in JWST F150W NIRCam images of the Galaxy Cluster WHL0137-08 at a redshift of z = 0.76 (GO 2282, PI: Coe, Dan) that is not detected in archival HST F160W images of the same field taken on June 2016 (GO 14096, PI: Coe, Dan).
We report on the detection of a new source found in James Webb Space Telescope NIRCam images of the Galaxy Cluster WHL0137-08 (GO 2282, PI: Coe, Dan) that is not detected in archival Hubble Space Telescope images of the same field taken on June 2016 (GO 14096, PI: Coe, Dan). We estimate a preliminary aperture magnitude of the new source in F150W of 26.4 ± 0.04 mag. The source is located within the footprint of a spiral galaxy at a redshift of z = 0.76 ± 0.04, estimated using the photometric redshift from EAZY SED fitting to images (Brammer et al. 2008, ApJ, 686, 1503), suggesting the new source could be a supernova. At this redshift, this corresponds to an absolute magnitude of ~ -17, consistent with an old supernova at least a few months past explosion. We subtract an archival F160W HST WFC3 image (the reddest filter available) from the new F150W JWST NIRCam image using hotpants (Becker, 2015, ascl:1504.004) to verify the transient nature of the source. Given that the source appears brighter in redder filters, this could be either an old supernova, or a high redshift background source.
img_source.jpg