Observations of young core collapse supernova remnants

Abstract: Studies of young remnants offer an opportunity to test theoretical models of stellar evolution, explosion models and nucleosynthesis, as well as our understanding of the compact objects in the centre of the exploded stars.The first part of the thesis involves observations of the Crab nebula. We have used photometric and spectroscopic observations to search for a faint halo around the visible nebula, that could carry the missing mass and kinetic energy of the nebula. No halo was found. In the photometric data due to psf contamination, and in the spectroscopic no fast velocity components were present. We have also used optical and IR photometry to check for variation in the emissivity and dynamic structure of the Crab pulsar wind nebula (PWN), to try to understand the nature of plerionic PWNe. There, we measured flux variations up to 20% in the IR and also shifting of the wisps with velocities up to 0.2c. We also showed that the nearby red knot moves in tandem with the Crab pulsar.The second part of the thesis, deals with photometric &  spectroscopic observations of SN 1987A in the LMC. The aim of the project was to monitor the evolution of the outer rings (ORs) of SN 1987A. The fading of the ORs is consistent with recombination and cooling after the initial flash ionization by the supernova. From the spectroscopic data we measured the density and temperature in the ORs where we found temperatures of ~ 12,000 K for the [N II] gas, and ~ 25,000 K for the [O III]. Finally, from the [O II], and [S II] ratios we estimated electron densities of ~ 1,000 cm-3 and ~ 2,500 cm-3, respectively. From the evolution of Hα, we argue that the highest density in the ORs could be 5,000 cm-3.