SN 1987A's Circumstellar Envelope, II: Kinematics of the Three Rings and the Diffuse Nebula

Abstract

We present several different measurements of the velocities of structures within the circumstellar envelope of SN 1987A, including the inner, equatorial ring (ER), outer rings (ORs), and the diffuse nebulosity at radii < 5 pc, based on CTIO 4m and HST data. A comparison of STIS and WFPC2 [N II]6583 loci for the rings show that the ER is expanding in radius at 10.5+-0.3 km/s, with the northern OR expanding along the line of sight at about 26 km/s, and for the southern OR, about 23 km/s. Similar results are found with CTIO 4m data. Accounting for inclination, the best fit to all data show both ORs with an expansion from the SN of 26 km/s. The ratio of the ER to OR velocities is nearly equal to the ratio of ER to OR radii, so the rings are roughly homologous, all having kinematic ages corresponding to about 20,000 yr before the SN explosion. This makes previously reported, large compositional differences between the ER and ORs difficult to understand. Additionally, a grid of longslit 4m/echelle spectra centered on the SN shows two velocity components over a region roughly coextensive with the outer circumstellar envelope extending about 5 pc (20 arcsec) from the SN. One component is blueshifted and the other redshifted from the SN centroid by about 10 km/s each. These features may represent a bipolar flow expanding from the SN, in which the ORs are propelled 10-15 km/s faster than that of the surrounding envelope into which they propogate. The kinematic timescale for the entire nebula is at least about 350,000 yr. The kinematics of these various structures constrain possible models for the evolution of the progenitor and its formation of a mass loss nebula.