Supernova 2008D/ X-ray Transient 080109:
Death of a Stripped Massive Star

Maryam Modjaz
UC Berkeley, Astronomy


Abstract:

Supernova 2008D was discovered serendipitously in January 2008 by the NASA 
Swift satellite via its X-ray emission and has generated great interest by   
astronomers (10 papers so far) and much media attention.    


It is a supernova of Type Ib, that is, a core-collapse supernova whose   
massive stellar progenitor had been been stripped of its outmost hydrogen   
layer, but had retained its next-inner helium layer, before explosion. I   
will discuss the significance of this supernova and what it tells us about   
the deaths of massive stars, the size of its progenitor and the   
implications for the supernova-GRB connection.      


Reference:  Modjaz et al. (2008, ApJ submitted)  
http://lanl.arxiv.org/abs/0805.2201