The peak brightness of SN 1937C in IC 4182 and the hubble constant

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-10-1994

Abstract

The light curve of the Type Ia supernova SN 1937C (in IC 4182) is important because Sandage et al. have measured a distance to the host galaxy by means of Cepheid variables and thus have derived the Hubble constant. However, the peak brightness of SN 1937C has only been derived with the relatively poor original comparison star brightnesses and without regard to a large body of data in the literature. In this paper, I will correct these and other procedural difficulties. I find that the late time photographic light curve appears to have a broken exponential decay with equivalent half-lives of 46 and 58 days with the break near 300 days after maximum. I also find that the peak B-magnitude was 8.71 + 0.14 on JD 2428770.0 ± 1.0 at which time the B-V was -0.03 ± 0.13. With these improved peak brightnesses, the distance modulus of Sandage et al., and peak absolute magnitudes in the center of the range of modern estimates, I derive the Hubble constant to be 50 km s-1 Mpc-1.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Astrophysical Journal

First Page

493

Last Page

501

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