The CfA Supernova Group

Welcome to the CfA Supernova Group webpages

We conduct supernova-related research at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA).

* Recent Publications & News *

Look for updates soon (06/16/11)
Go to SN 2011dh page .
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Foley et al. 2010 Early- and Late-Time Observations of SN 2008ha: Additional Constraints for the Progenitor and Explosion
Foley et al. 2010 SN 2006bt: A Perplexing, Troublesome, and Possibly Misleading Type Ia Supernova
Rest et al. 2010 (arXiv:1003.5660) Direct Confirmation of the Asymmetry of the Cas A SN Explosion with Light Echoes
Soderberg et al. 2010 A relativistic type Ibc supernova (SN 2009bb) without a detected gamma-ray burst
Levesque et al. 2010 The High-metallicity Explosion Environment of the Relativistic Supernova 2009bb
Mandel et al. 2009 Type Ia Supernova Light-Curve Inference: Hierarchical Bayesian Analysis in the Near-Infrared
Foley et al. 2009 SN 2008ha: An Extremely Low Luminosity and Exceptionally Low Energy Supernova
Marion et al. 2009 A Catalog of Near-Infrared Spectra from Type Ia Supernovae
Wood-Vasey et al. 2008 Type Ia Supernovae Are Good Standard Candles in the Near Infrared: Evidence from PAIRITEL
CfA press release about SN 2008ha
CfA press release about Cas A light echoes
CfA press release about Pan-STARRS becoming fully operational
CfA press release about SN 2009bb

The CfA3 Sample

Paper 1: 185 Type Ia Supernova Light Curves from the CfA Hicken et al. (2009a)
Paper 2: Improved Dark Energy Constraints from ~100 New CfA Supernova Type Ia Light Curves Hicken et al (2009b)
Other Data products from the CfA3: Photometry, Light-Curve Fit Parameters and Distances (Constitution Set, SALT2, MLCS17 and MLCS31)

Continuing Observations of Nearby Supernovae

Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory (FLWO) (Mount Hopkins, Arizona)

1.5-meter Tillinghast (60-inch) telescope with the FAST spectrograph

1.2-meter (48-inch) telescope with the Keplercam CCD
MMT Observatory (Mount Hopkins, Arizona)

Blue Channel spectrograph

Red Channel spectrograph

Hectospec spectrograph
Las Campanas Observatory and Magellen Telescopes

MagE spectrograph

MMIRS spectrograph
Peters Automated Infrared Imaging Telescope (PAIRITEL)
Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF)

Cosmology with Type Ia supernovae

The CfA SN group is actively involved in the ESSENCE project, whose aim is to determine the equation-of-state parameter of the Universe using observations of high-redshift Type Ia supernovae. This project is a follow-up of the High-Z SN Search.