AAS 205th Meeting, 9-13 January 2005
Session 40 SNe Observations and GRB Milky Way Effects
Oral, Monday, January 10, 2005, 2:00-3:30pm, California

[40.01] The Discovery of Dust Emission from SN 2002hh in NGC 6946

B. Sugerman (STScI), M. Barlow, J. Fabbri (University College London), M. Meixner (STScI)

It has long been hypothesised that supernovae (SNe) are a major source of dust in the Universe, an assumption which has gained support with the discovery that many of the earliest-formed galaxies are extremely dusty and IR-luminous, as evidenced by the efficient detection of their redshifted dust emission at submillimeter wavelengths. We recently detected SN 2002hh in mid-IR imaging from {\em Spitzer Space Telescope}, only the third supernova to ever be detected at these wavelengths. Its spectral energy distribution near day 590 suggests the flux is both from dust condensing within the ejecta, and from heated, pre-existing circumstellar material. The SN is also crowded with an infrared source of unknown origin. We report these data, as well as Gemini-North mid-IR observations taken near day 700, and discuss implications for the source of the IR emission, estimated mass of dust that has formed in the ejecta, and projected IR evolution.

Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 36 5
© 2004. The American Astronomical Society.