Supernova 2014J in the nearby galaxy Messier 82 (less than 12 million light-years away) exploded on January 14, 2014 and was the closest ”standard candle” supernova in four decades. Together with people in the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory (iPTF) and Spitzer Infrared Intensive Transients Survey (SPIRITS), I have worked on a number of interesting papers on this event.

In Goobar et al. 2014, we provide important new clues into the nature of the class of stellar explosions, known as Type Ia supernovae, over a very wide wavelength range, starting just hours after the deduced explosion time. A better understanding of the physics behind Type Ia supernovae, circumstellar material surrounding the explosion and dimming of the light by dust is crucial to further refine the measurements of the expansion history of the Universe.

SN 2014J, gave us a unique opportunity to study both the properties of the supernova explosion itself but also of the intervening dust. In Amanullah et. al (2014) and Johansson et. al (2014) we use the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes to pin down the dust extinction along the line-of-sight and put tight limits on any circumstellar dust.

Papers on SN 2014J:

• Spitzer observations of SN 2014J and properties of mid-IR emission in Type Ia supernovae (Johansson et al.)
• No trace of a single-degenerate companion in late spectra of supernovae 2011fe and 2014J (Lundqvist, Nyholm, Taddia, Sollerman, Johansson, et al.)
• Early Observations and Analysis of the Type Ia SN 2014J in M82 (Marion et al.)
• The Peculiar Extinction Law of SN 2014J Measured with the Hubble Space Telescope (Amanullah, Goobar,  Johansson et al.)
• The Rise of SN 2014J in the Nearby Galaxy M82 (Goobar,  Johansson, et al.)

Read also:

• A close look at the nearest standard-candle Supernova in several decades
• Hubble Space telescope images of a supernova in nearby galaxy M82
• Spitzer Stares into the Heart of New Supernova in M82