There is a growing number of Type IIn supernovae (SNe) which present an outburst prior to their presumably final explosion. These precursors may affect the SN display, and are likely related to poorly charted phenomena in the final stages of stellar …
We present our observations of SN 2010mb, a Type Ic supernova (SN) lacking spectroscopic signatures of H and He. SN 2010mb has a slowly declining light curve (LC) (åisebox-0.5ex 600 days) that cannot be powered by $^56$Ni/$^56$Co radioactivity, the …
Some supernovae (SNe) may be powered by the interaction of the SN ejecta with a large amount of circumstellar matter (CSM). However, quantitative estimates of the CSM mass around such SNe are missing when the CSM material is optically thick. …
The optical light curve of some supernovae (SNe) may be powered by the outward diffusion of the energy deposited by the explosion shock (the so-called shock breakout) in optically thick (τ >åisebox-0.5ex 30) circumstellar matter (CSM). Recently, …
The Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) is systematically charting the optical transient and variable sky. A primary science driver of PTF is building a complete inventory of transients in the local universe (distance less than 200 Mpc). Here, we report …
Type-IIn supernovae (SNe IIn), which are characterized by strong interaction of their ejecta with the surrounding circumstellar matter (CSM), provide a unique opportunity to study the mass- loss history of massive stars shortly before their explosive …
We present spectroscopic and photometric observations of the Type IIn supernova (SN) 2008iy. SN 2008iy showed an unprecedentedly long rise time of åisebox-0.5ex 400 d, making it the first known SN to take significantly longer than 100 d to reach peak …
We present progenitor-star detections, light curves, and optical spectra of supernova (SN) 2009ip and the 2009 optical transient in UGC 2773 (U2773-OT), which were not genuine SNe. Precursor variability in the decade before outburst indicates that …