An extremely luminous X-ray outburst at the birth of a supernova

A. M. Soderberg, E. Berger, K. L. Page, P. Schady, J. Parrent, D. Pooley, X. Y. Wang, E. O. Ofek, A. Cucchiara, A. Rau, E. Waxman, J. D. Simon, D. C.J. Bock, P. A. Milne, M. J. Page, J. C. Barentine, S. D. Barthelmy, A. P. Beardmore, M. F. Bietenholz, P. BrownA. Burrows, D. N. Burrows, G. Byrngelson, S. B. Cenko, P. Chandra, J. R. Cummings, D. B. Fox, A. Gal-Yam, N. Gehrels, S. Immler, M. Kasliwal, A. K.H. Kong, H. A. Krimm, S. R. Kulkarni, T. J. MacCarone, P. Mészáros, E. Nakar, P. T. O'Brien, R. A. Overzier, M. De Pasquale, J. Racusin, N. Rea, D. G. York

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

435 Scopus citations

Abstract

Massive stars end their short lives in spectacular explosions - supernovae - that synthesize new elements and drive galaxy evolution. Historically, supernovae were discovered mainly through their 'delayed' optical light (some days after the burst of neutrinos that marks the actual event), preventing observations in the first moments following the explosion. As a result, the progenitors of some supernovae and the events leading up to their violent demise remain intensely debated. Here we report the serendipitous discovery of a supernova at the time of the explosion, marked by an extremely luminous X-ray outburst. We attribute the outburst to the 'break-out' of the supernova shock wave from the progenitor star, and show that the inferred rate of such events agrees with that of all core-collapse supernovae. We predict that future wide-field X-ray surveys will catch each year hundreds of supernovae in the act of exploding.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)469-474
Number of pages6
JournalNature
Volume453
Issue number7194
DOIs
StatePublished - 22 May 2008
Externally publishedYes

Funding

FundersFunder number
Australian Research Council
Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
National Science Foundation
W. M. Keck Foundation
Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
Secretaria de Ciencia y Tecnica, Universidad de Buenos Aires
National Research Council Canada
Science and Technology Facilities CouncilPP/E001173/1, ST/H001972/1, ST/F006489/1
UK Research and Innovation53706

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