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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0The Astrophysical Journal

Using CFHT’s SITELLE to Probe the Long-sought Supernova Remnant Shell in the Crab Nebula

  • Lucas V. da Conceição1
  • Janette Suherli1
  • Samar Safi-Harb1
  • Carter Rhea2
  • Ivo R. Seitenzahl3
  • Ashley J. Ruiter4
4 affiliations
  1. 1The University of Manitoba
  2. 2Université de Montréal
  3. 3Australian National University
  4. 4The Australian National University
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Abstract

We present deep, wide-field integral field spectroscopy of the Crab Nebula obtained with the imaging Fourier transform spectrometer SITELLE at the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) to search for the long-sought forward shock. Our observations target the coronal line [Fe xiv ] λ 5303, a tracer of shock-heated gas, over two 11 ′ × 11 ′ fields that probe projected radii of ∼2.4–10 pc west of the pulsar, encompassing the range in which a supernova shell is expected. After data processing and a search over the full field of view, we found no statistically significant [Fe xiv ] emission in the surveyed regions. We derive a conservative average surface-brightness upper limit of ≲ 3.79 × 1 0 − 17 erg cm − 2 s − 1 arcsec − 2 over three representative annuli. This represents the deepest large-area optical constraint on coronal iron emission beyond the visible nebula from the Crab’s putative supernova remnant (SNR) shell. Our results are consistent with scenarios in which the forward shock is expanding into a very low-density medium, the shocked gas is weak or underionized, or the shell lies outside the observed region. This work demonstrates the power of wide-field optical integral field spectroscopy for constraining faint, large-scale structures in SNRs.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{conceicao2026using,
  title = {{Using CFHT’s SITELLE to Probe the Long-sought Supernova Remnant Shell in the Crab Nebula}},
  author = {Lucas V. da Conceição and Janette Suherli and Samar Safi-Harb and Carter Rhea and Ivo R. Seitenzahl and Ashley J. Ruiter},
  journal = {The Astrophysical Journal},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ae9ebb},
  url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ae9ebb},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Using CFHT’s SITELLE to Probe the Long-sought Supernova Remnant Shell in the Crab Nebula
AU  - Lucas V. da Conceição
AU  - Janette Suherli
AU  - Samar Safi-Harb
AU  - Carter Rhea
AU  - Ivo R. Seitenzahl
AU  - Ashley J. Ruiter
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/12
JO  - The Astrophysical Journal
DO  - 10.3847/1538-4357/ae9ebb
UR  - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ae9ebb
AB  - We present deep, wide-field integral field spectroscopy of the Crab Nebula obtained with the imaging Fourier transform spectrometer SITELLE at the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) to search for the long-sought forward shock. Our observations target the coronal line [Fe xiv ] λ 5303, a tracer of shock-heated gas, over two 11 ′ × 11 ′ fields that probe projected radii of ∼2.4–10 pc west of the pulsar, encompassing the range in which a supernova shell is expected. After data processing and a search over the full field of view, we found no statistically significant [Fe xiv ] emission in the surveyed regions. We derive a conservative average surface-brightness upper limit of ≲ 3.79 × 1 0 − 17 erg cm − 2 s − 1 arcsec − 2 over three representative annuli. This represents the deepest large-area optical constraint on coronal iron emission beyond the visible nebula from the Crab’s putative supernova remnant (SNR) shell. Our results are consistent with scenarios in which the forward shock is expanding into a very low-density medium, the shocked gas is weak or underionized, or the shell lies outside the observed region. This work demonstrates the power of wide-field optical integral field spectroscopy for constraining faint, large-scale structures in SNRs.
SN  - 0004-637X
SN  - 1538-4357
ER  -