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S. S. Lawrence (Hofstra University), B. E. Sugerman, A. P. S. Crotts (Columbia University)
With the full-scale interaction between the blast wave and the circumstellar equatorial ring (ER) now underway, we are watching SN 1987A turn into a bona fide supernova remnant. After a lengthy delay following the appearance of emission from the first ``hot spot'' interaction site in 1995, eleven new hot spots have been detected since January 2000. The rapid photometric and spectral evolution of these hot spots may provide us with information about the ER and shocks on spatial scales smaller than the imaging resolution of HST.
We report on Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) data taken over the last year, and compare them with earlier observations. Using innovative slit positioning to split the ER into northern and southern halves, we have obtained spatially and spectrally resolved monochromatic emission line images of the ER through the G750M, G430L and G750L gratings. We will present spectrophotometry and emission-line ratio maps of the ER and the brightest hot spots.
This research was supported by NASA grant NAG5-3502 and STIS grants GO 8806 and GO 8872
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: Stephen.Lawrence@hofstra.edu