Rings and Echoes: An Overview (of SN 1987A's Environment)

Abstract

The volume around the SN 1987A contains a variety of structures, including but certainly not limited to the three-ring nebula glowing in recombination lines. Many of these structures are revealed by light echoes, hence have been mapped in three dimensions by our optical imaging monitoring of the field around the SN. The three rings are part of a bipolar nebula which contains them at its waist and crowns, and which is itself contained in a larger, diffuse nebula with a detectable equatorial overdensity. This diffuse nebula terminates in a boundary overdensity which most likely marks the inner edge of a bubble blown by the main sequence wind of the progenitor star and its neighbors. Beyond this bubble is a rich collection of interstellar structures revealed by light echoes. In addition to detecting and mapping these structures, we add dynamical and age information by establishing the kinematics of the gas, both on interstellar and circumstellar scales. These reveal, for instance, a timescale for the outer circumstellar rings which is in close agreement with the inner ring. The presence of these structures, their ages and morphologies should be included in any model explaining the evolution of the progenitor star and its mass loss envelope.