Now that the discovery phase transitions towards more towards scientific research, I’d like to make a few comments.
Firstly, congratulations to Stu, (& the whole BOSS team), on finding this bright fella. Your dedication and commitment to this past-time is simply awesome.
So, current Supernova researchers are hotly debating the progenitor question. I think they’re now able to move beyond the traditional popular singular theoretical view that Type1as necessarily originate from the white dwarf in a binary system, which draws material off its companion until the Chandrasekhar limit, (ie: the Single Degenerate (SD) model).
This model requires a lot of fine tuning to explain the accretion rate in gaining extra mass and to avoid resulting in a red giant, instead of the observed T1a. This may be explained by invoking a moderation of the rate caused by infalling stellar winds however, no evidence of the dispersed ions this would create, has been observed. Neither has the search for surviving remnants of the companion star.
The alternative model, the Double Degenerate (DD) model, portrays two infalling binaries, merging after losing energy and angular momentum.
Both models suffer observational and theoretical problems, individually, and both share common problems also.
A recent paper was published, which models the T1a rate within a set volume of space, and then overlays this with the expected frequency of different progenitor scenarios. As it turns out, this model favours the DD scenario, which was quite unexpected.
I’d imagine many steely eyes will be searching for evidence of progenitor remnants, ion clouds and wind-blown cavities, etc in support of the SD model. On the other hand, evidence of other close and massive white dwarf binaries, might add more weight to the DD model.
I think its important for amateur observers to keep up with current competing theories, as there are additional observations which can be made beyond the initial discovery. Whether these are able to be accomplished with amateur technologies ... is a question I leave up to our BOSS experts !
Well done, guys.
Cheers & Rgds.