A Supernova of Success: India’s ILMT Telescope Reaches Milestone!
The Devasthal Observatory in Nainital, India, has achieved a significant milestone with the International Liquid Mirror Telescope (ILMT) by discovering its first supernova, SN 2023af. This groundbreaking discovery, outlined in a report on the arXiv preprint server on November 8, highlights the ILMT’s capability to uncover many more supernovae in the future. These extraordinary celestial occurrences, renowned for their dazzling brightness and explosive nature, offer astronomers essential information about the development of stars and galaxies.
The ILMT telescope, with a diameter of 4 meters and pointing towards the zenith, focuses on photometric and astrometric direct imaging studies. Astronomers expect this innovative telescope to play a key role in discovering transient phenomena such as gamma-ray bursts and supernovae, Phys.org reports.
Activated on April 29, 2022, the ILMT, currently in advanced deployment, reached a major milestone on March 9, 2023, when it identified SN 2023af. This discovery, originally spotted two months earlier, prompted a series of follow-up observations led by Brajesh Kumar and his team at the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES) in India.
The first supernova captured by the ILMT telescope
During the ILMT deployment phase, the team closely monitored SN 2023af, using the 3.6 m Devasthal Optical Telescope (DOT) and the 1.3 m Devasthal Fast Optical Telescope (DFOT) in addition to the ILMT. The researchers created a light curve spanning 110 days after the discovery, revealing visible hydrogen and metal lines in SN 2023af’s spectrum.
Preliminary results suggest that SN 2023af is a Type IIP supernova, belonging to the Type II-Plateau supernova class, which is known for its extended brightness after reaching maximum brightness, which lasts about 100 days. These supernovae, such as SN 2023af, likely originate from precursors that retain substantial layers of hydrogen before becoming core-collapse supernovae.
Despite these findings, astronomers stress the need for additional observations to confirm the classification of SN 2023af as a type IIP supernova.
In short, the successful identification of SN 2023af highlights ILMT’s potential to reveal countless starbursts, promising a wealth of discoveries as astronomers continue their observations in the coming years.
