Discovery, Photometry, and Spectroscopy of Supernovae

这项研究代表了对确定祖恒星的性质、爆炸机制和不同类型超新星的核合成产物的集中努力。这些结果将对各种各样的主题产生广泛的影响，如星系的化学演化、脉冲星的诞生率和宇宙学。所采用的方法主要是观察和理论建模相结合。一项在附近星系中寻找新超新星的研究将由位于Leuschner天文台的自动成像望远镜进行，从而延续一年前开始的努力。所有足够明亮的超新星的多色、长期光线曲线将由利克天文台的第二台机器人望远镜获得。为了研究超新星的时间演化和统计特性，还将使用最先进的设备获得高质量的光谱。对数据进行彻底的分析，应该能够制定出更完整的分类方案，重点关注基本参数。除了提供对其起源和物理特征的更深入的了解外，对附近超新星的观测特性的定量评估应该提高超新星在宇宙距离确定方面的潜力。新投入使用的凯克10米望远镜将用于获取非常遥远的超新星的光谱，试图测量宇宙的膨胀率和整体曲率。＊＊＊

Filippenko 9417213 This research represents a concentrated effort to determine the nature of the progenitor stars, the explosion mechanisms, and the nucleosynthetic products of different types of supernovae. The results will have broad implications for topics as diverse as the chemical evolution of galaxies, the birthrate of pulsars, and cosmology. The adopted approach is largely observational, coupled with theoretical modeling. A vigorous search for new supernovae in nearby galaxies will be conducted with an automated imaging telescope at Leuschner Observatory, thereby extending an effort that began over a year ago. Multi-color, long-term light curves of all sufficiently bright supernovae will be obtained with a second robotic telescope at Lick Observatory. High-quality optical spectra will also be obtained with state-of-the-art equipment in order to study the temporal evolution and statistical properties of supernovae. Thorough analysis of the data should lead to the development of a more complete classification scheme that focuses on fundamental parameters. Besides providing deeper insights into their origins and physical characteristics, quantitative assessment of the observed properties of nearby supernovae should improve the potential of supernovae for cosmological distance determinations. The newly commissioned Keck 10-meter telescope will be used to obtain spectra of very distant supernovae, in an attempt to measure the expansion rate and overall curvature of the Universe. ***