Constraining Dust Formation in the Superluminous Supernova 2017gci with JWST Observations
14 affiliations
- 1Space Telescope Science Institute
- 2The University of Texas at Austin
- 33 Princeton University
- 4Center for Astrophysics ∣ Harvard & Smithsonian
- 5The NSF AI Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions
- 6Johns Hopkins University
- 7Virginia Tech
- 8IPAC
- 9University of Copenhagen
- 10Ghent University
- 11Purdue University
- 12University of Szeged
- 13MTA-ELTE Lendület “Momentum” Milky Way Research Group
- 14National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand
Abstract
We present JWST/MIRI observations of the Type I superluminous supernova (SLSN) 2017gci obtained over 2000 rest-frame days after the supernova (SN) exploded, which represent the latest phase images taken of any known SLSN to date. We find that archival Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) detections of SN 2017gci taken 70–200 days after explosion are most likely explained by an IR dust echo from a ∼10 ⁻⁴ M ⊙ shell of preexisting dust, as opposed to freshly formed dust. New JWST observations reveal mid-infrared emission at the position of SN 2017gci; however, the flux level and spatial offset indicate that this emission is most likely dominated by the host galaxy. We therefore derive upper limits from these observations to constrain dust emission at late times. Radiative transfer modeling of carbonaceous dust shows that warm optically thin dust masses up to 0.18 M ⊙ are excluded at the 3 σ confidence level. However, substantially larger dust masses cannot be ruled out if the dust is optically thick. Infrared detections of other SLSNe have suggested that SLSNe may be highly efficient dust producers. While our constraints are insufficient to determine the total dust yield of SN 2017gci, they indicate that any late-time dust emission must either be modest compared to the most dust-rich SNe or arise from dust that is optically thick. A larger sample of deep infrared observations will be required to determine whether SLSNe are significant contributors to cosmic dust production.
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BibTeX
@article{gomez2026constraining,
title = {{Constraining Dust Formation in the Superluminous Supernova 2017gci with JWST Observations}},
author = {Sebastian Gomez and Tea Temim and Ori Fox and V. Ashley Villar and Melissa Shahbandeh and Chris Ashall and Jacob E. Jencson and Danial Langeroodi and Ilse De Looze and Dan Milisavljevic and Justin Pierel and Armin Rest and Tamás Szalai and Samaporn Tinyanont},
journal = {The Astrophysical Journal},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3847/1538-4357/ae84cd},
url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ae84cd},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Constraining Dust Formation in the Superluminous Supernova 2017gci with JWST Observations
AU - Sebastian Gomez
AU - Tea Temim
AU - Ori Fox
AU - V. Ashley Villar
AU - Melissa Shahbandeh
AU - Chris Ashall
AU - Jacob E. Jencson
AU - Danial Langeroodi
AU - Ilse De Looze
AU - Dan Milisavljevic
AU - Justin Pierel
AU - Armin Rest
AU - Tamás Szalai
AU - Samaporn Tinyanont
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/14
JO - The Astrophysical Journal
DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/ae84cd
UR - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ae84cd
AB - We present JWST/MIRI observations of the Type I superluminous supernova (SLSN) 2017gci obtained over 2000 rest-frame days after the supernova (SN) exploded, which represent the latest phase images taken of any known SLSN to date. We find that archival Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) detections of SN 2017gci taken 70–200 days after explosion are most likely explained by an IR dust echo from a ∼10 ⁻⁴ M ⊙ shell of preexisting dust, as opposed to freshly formed dust. New JWST observations reveal mid-infrared emission at the position of SN 2017gci; however, the flux level and spatial offset indicate that this emission is most likely dominated by the host galaxy. We therefore derive upper limits from these observations to constrain dust emission at late times. Radiative transfer modeling of carbonaceous dust shows that warm optically thin dust masses up to 0.18 M ⊙ are excluded at the 3 σ confidence level. However, substantially larger dust masses cannot be ruled out if the dust is optically thick. Infrared detections of other SLSNe have suggested that SLSNe may be highly efficient dust producers. While our constraints are insufficient to determine the total dust yield of SN 2017gci, they indicate that any late-time dust emission must either be modest compared to the most dust-rich SNe or arise from dust that is optically thick. A larger sample of deep infrared observations will be required to determine whether SLSNe are significant contributors to cosmic dust production.
SN - 0004-637X
SN - 1538-4357
ER -