A Significant Dust Reservoir Uncovered with JWST in the Type Ic SN 1983V More Than 40 Years Post-Explosion
Abstract
Searching for late-time emission from supernovae (SNe) is an active field. Infrared (IR) wavelengths are sensitive to thermal emission from dust, which can be used to probe SN contributions to the cosmic dust budget and progenitor mass-loss histories. The older an SN, the more likely it is for any existing dust to have cooled below the detection threshold of most observatories, even JWST. Decades-old IR observations of SNe are therefore exceedingly rare. Here we present fortuitous and serendipitous JWST IR observations that detect a point source at the position of the Type Ic SN 1983V more than 40 yr post-explosion. We demonstrate that the source is unlike nearby HII regions and likely to be the dusty SN. We further show evidence from archival HST data of a plausible H/alpha counterpart associated with ongoing SN shock interaction that collisionally heats the dust. In this scenario, the dust is distributed in a torus, more consistent with mass loss from binary interaction than a spherical wind. While not the oldest SN detected by JWST (SN 1980K), SN 1983V is a close second. Moreover, it has a relatively large dust mass (~7.7 x 10^-3 M_solar), particularly for a stripped-envelope SN. Although the dust is not likely newly formed, it does suggest such systems may contribute to dust production, particularly in the early Universe where massive stars and binary systems were more common. Spectroscopic observations can ultimately confirm the SN nature of this source.
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BibTeX
@misc{kressy2026significant,
title = {{A Significant Dust Reservoir Uncovered with JWST in the Type Ic SN 1983V More Than 40 Years Post-Explosion}},
author = {Sophia S. Kressy and Thomas Moore and Ori D. Fox and Nathan Smith and Raphael Baer-Way and Luc Dessart and Michael J. Dulude and W. V. Jacobson-Galán and Melissa Shahbandeh and Tea Temim and Chris Ashall and David A. Coulter and Alexei V. Filippenko and Sebastian Gomez and Jacob Jencson and Kyle Medler and Daniel Patnaude and Tamás Szalai and Schuyler D. Van Dyk and Aiden Agostinelli and Sarah Healy and Zachary G. Lane and Dan Milisavljevic and Shazrene Mohamed and Benjamin Radmore and Armin Rest and Arkaprabha Sarangi and Yossef Zenati and Noah Zimmer},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.19263},
eprint = {2609.19263},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.19263},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - A Significant Dust Reservoir Uncovered with JWST in the Type Ic SN 1983V More Than 40 Years Post-Explosion
AU - Sophia S. Kressy
AU - Thomas Moore
AU - Ori D. Fox
AU - Nathan Smith
AU - Raphael Baer-Way
AU - Luc Dessart
AU - Michael J. Dulude
AU - W. V. Jacobson-Galán
AU - Melissa Shahbandeh
AU - Tea Temim
AU - Chris Ashall
AU - David A. Coulter
AU - Alexei V. Filippenko
AU - Sebastian Gomez
AU - Jacob Jencson
AU - Kyle Medler
AU - Daniel Patnaude
AU - Tamás Szalai
AU - Schuyler D. Van Dyk
AU - Aiden Agostinelli
AU - Sarah Healy
AU - Zachary G. Lane
AU - Dan Milisavljevic
AU - Shazrene Mohamed
AU - Benjamin Radmore
AU - Armin Rest
AU - Arkaprabha Sarangi
AU - Yossef Zenati
AU - Noah Zimmer
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/16
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.19263
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.19263
AB - Searching for late-time emission from supernovae (SNe) is an active field. Infrared (IR) wavelengths are sensitive to thermal emission from dust, which can be used to probe SN contributions to the cosmic dust budget and progenitor mass-loss histories. The older an SN, the more likely it is for any existing dust to have cooled below the detection threshold of most observatories, even JWST. Decades-old IR observations of SNe are therefore exceedingly rare. Here we present fortuitous and serendipitous JWST IR observations that detect a point source at the position of the Type Ic SN 1983V more than 40 yr post-explosion. We demonstrate that the source is unlike nearby HII regions and likely to be the dusty SN. We further show evidence from archival HST data of a plausible H/alpha counterpart associated with ongoing SN shock interaction that collisionally heats the dust. In this scenario, the dust is distributed in a torus, more consistent with mass loss from binary interaction than a spherical wind. While not the oldest SN detected by JWST (SN 1980K), SN 1983V is a close second. Moreover, it has a relatively large dust mass (~7.7 x 10^-3 M_solar), particularly for a stripped-envelope SN. Although the dust is not likely newly formed, it does suggest such systems may contribute to dust production, particularly in the early Universe where massive stars and binary systems were more common. Spectroscopic observations can ultimately confirm the SN nature of this source.
ER -