2016/11/30 by Ealeal Bear, Noam Soker · 30 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Barrel (horology) #Circular symmetry #Classical mechanics #Core (optical fiber) #Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae #Kinetic energy #Neutrino Physics Research #Optics #Physics #Planetary nebula #Stars #Supernova #astro-ph.HE #astro-ph.SR
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/mnras/stx431
published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 468(1), 140-146 (Oxford University Press) · Accepted by MNRAS
arxiv created 2017/02/16 · openalex publication_date 2017/02/18 · arxiv updated 2017/04/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We compare the morphology of the core collapse supernova remnant (CCSNR) W49B with the morphology of many planetary nebulae (PNe), and deduce the orientation of the jets that shaped this CCSNR and estimate their energy. We find morphological features that are shared by some PNe and by the CCSNR W49B. In PNe these features, such as a barrel-shaped main body, are thought to be shaped by jets. We use these morphological similarities to deduce that the jets that shaped SNR W49B were launched along the symmetry axis of the ‘barrel’, and to speculate that this CCSNR has two opposite lobes (or ears), that are too faint to be observed. We crudely estimate that the jets that shaped the CCSNR into a barrel shape had a kinetic energy that amounts to about one quarter to one third of the energy of the entire CCSNR. The morphological similarities strengthen the suggestion that jets play a central role in the explosion of massive stars.