Rubab Khan: Mid-IR progenitor of SN 2010da in NGC 300

We report the detection of a bright mid-IR source coincident with the position of SN 2010da (CBET #2289) in the nearby galaxy NGC 300 in archival images obtained with Spitzer/IRAC in Dec. 2007 (PI: R. Kennicutt). The candidate mid-IR progenitor of SN 2010da is in fact present at RA=00:55:04.88, DEC=-37:41:43.7 in the catalog of mid-IR sources in nearby galaxies published by Khan et al. (2010, ApJ, 715, 904). The mid-IR magnitudes and color of the progenitor are [3.6] = 15.95, [4.5] = 15.31, [3.6]-[4.5] = 0.64. Based on the location (M_4.5 = -11.1, [3.6]-[4.5]=0.6) of the progenitor in the mid-IR color-magnitude diagram (see Thompson et al. 2009, ApJ, 705, 1364), as well as the low luminosity of the transient (M_V ~ -10.3), SN 2010da should be an LBV in outburst.

Links: CBET #2289, ATel #2632, #2633, #2636, #2637, #2638, #2639, #2640 , #2642 , #2648

Fig-1: SN 2010da in NGC 300 visible at Spitzer 3.6 μm (top left), 4.5 μm (top right), 5.8 μm (bottom left ), and 8.0 μm (bottom right). Each panel is ~52.5" on its sides.

Fig-2: MIR CMD for M33 from Thompson et al. 2009 (their Fig. 2), showing absolute magnitude at 4.5 micron versus [3.6]-[4.5] color. The red square denotes the position of the progenitor of SN 2010da from the catalog of Khan et al. (2010). Open triangles show the LBV candidates from the catalog of Massey et al. (2007). Open circles denote the extreme-AGB population identified by Thompson et al. Filled circles show a variety of other objects. The progenitors of the transients SN 2008S (Arbour & Boles 2008; Prieto et al. 2008) and NGC 300-OT (Monard 2008; Khan et al. 2010) are also shown.

Fig-3: MIR CMD for NGC 300 from Khan et al. (2010) (their Fig. 11), showing apparent and absolute magnitude at 4.5 micron versus [3.6]-[4.5] color. The red square denotes the position of the progenitor of SN 2010da and the blue square denotes the position of the progenitor of the 2008 optical transient in NGC 300 from the catalog of Khan et al. (2010).