AT2018cow
(SN 2018cow, ATLAS18qqn)
(unusual 2018 optical transient)
AT2018cow (aka SN 2018cow or informally, the cow) is an
optical transient
detected on June 16, 2018 in the galaxy, CGCG 137-068.
It is classified as a supernova but with unusual characteristics:
it is a fast blue optical transient (FBOT) that shows at least an order-of-magnitude more energy than
a typical supernova, and the mechanism and type of progenitor are
open to question. There are ongoing attempts to explain it, some
possibilities being some neutron star phenomenon, or the formation
of a black hole.
AT2018cow has been taken as a prototype for subsequent transients
that also show its interesting characteristics. Because of the
current interest in these, the term cow is also currently used
informally for such transients. Among them:
- AT2018lug (ZTF18abvkwla, aka the koala, for "kwla").
- AT2020xnd (ZTF20acigmel, aka the camel, for "gmel").
Note that the strings "cow", "lug", etc. are supernova-designator suffixes
indicating which of the year's reported supernovae candidates:
(based on the order of reporting the transient:
by my calculation, "cow" is transient number 2441 for the year).
Other years will have their own unrelated "cow".
(supernova,event,transient)
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_2018cow
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019ApJ...871...73H/abstract
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019A%26A...627A.106M/abstract
Redshift | Parsecs /Distance | Lightyears /Lookback Years | | |
.014 | 100Mpc | 200Mly | | AT2018cow |
|
Coordinates: | AT2018cow J161600.2242+221604.890 |
|
Referenced by pages:
ATLAS survey
fast blue optical transient (FBOT)
supernova designator
Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF)
Index