Archival transients detected with the MeerLICHT telescope I: Supernovae

Abstract

Wide-field optical transient surveys collectively discover ∼50 new transients per night, making rapid, multi-filter and/or spectroscopic follow-up of all but the most exceptional events unfeasible. Consequently, the (early) light-curve properties of most supernovae (SNe), particularly sub-luminous events, are often poorly characterised. Here, we showcase recovery of key parameters by combining publicly available data from multiple, contemporaneous surveys. We built a catalogue of $125$ SNe by cross-matching the MeerLICHT (ML) transient survey with the Transient Name Server list of spectroscopically classified SNe detected between August 2017 and October 2022. For a subset of $14$ SNe with good multi-survey photometric coverage, we combined ML-q, ZTF-g,r, and ATLAS-c,o data to construct composite early-time light curves. We then applied an expanding fireball (t²) model to constrain their explosion dates and rest-frame rise times. We find that this simple model provides a reliable description for the early emission of most SNe in our sample and successfully constrains their rise time, a key parameter for characterising SN categories and probing progenitor origins. This multi-survey approach, only using standard survey products, provides a powerful method to characterise large numbers of SNe that would otherwise be lost, a technique that will be essential for maximising the scientific return from current and future surveys such as GOTO, BlackGEM, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's LSST, and Global Open Transient Telescope Array (GOTTA).

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BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@misc{mogawana2026archival,
  title = {{Archival transients detected with the MeerLICHT telescope I: Supernovae}},
  author = {O. Mogawana and P. J. Groot and N. Blagorodnova and P. M. Vreeswijk and D. L. A. Pieterse and S. Bloemen and G. Leloudas and R. A. D. Wijnands and D. A. H. Buckley and P. A. Woudt and R. Fender and B. W. Stappers},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.01052},
  eprint = {2609.01052},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.01052},
  note = {CC BY-SA 4.0},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Archival transients detected with the MeerLICHT telescope I: Supernovae
AU  - O. Mogawana
AU  - P. J. Groot
AU  - N. Blagorodnova
AU  - P. M. Vreeswijk
AU  - D. L. A. Pieterse
AU  - S. Bloemen
AU  - G. Leloudas
AU  - R. A. D. Wijnands
AU  - D. A. H. Buckley
AU  - P. A. Woudt
AU  - R. Fender
AU  - B. W. Stappers
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/01
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.01052
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.01052
AB  - Wide-field optical transient surveys collectively discover ∼50 new transients per night, making rapid, multi-filter and/or spectroscopic follow-up of all but the most exceptional events unfeasible. Consequently, the (early) light-curve properties of most supernovae (SNe), particularly sub-luminous events, are often poorly characterised. Here, we showcase recovery of key parameters by combining publicly available data from multiple, contemporaneous surveys. We built a catalogue of $125$ SNe by cross-matching the MeerLICHT (ML) transient survey with the Transient Name Server list of spectroscopically classified SNe detected between August 2017 and October 2022. For a subset of $14$ SNe with good multi-survey photometric coverage, we combined ML-q, ZTF-g,r, and ATLAS-c,o data to construct composite early-time light curves. We then applied an expanding fireball (t^2) model to constrain their explosion dates and rest-frame rise times. We find that this simple model provides a reliable description for the early emission of most SNe in our sample and successfully constrains their rise time, a key parameter for characterising SN categories and probing progenitor origins. This multi-survey approach, only using standard survey products, provides a powerful method to characterise large numbers of SNe that would otherwise be lost, a technique that will be essential for maximising the scientific return from current and future surveys such as GOTO, BlackGEM, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's LSST, and Global Open Transient Telescope Array (GOTTA).
ER  -

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