DYNAMIC-MODELS FOR THE SN 1987 A NEBULA

The nebulosities surrounding SN1987A, observed recently with the ESO NTT, resemble strikingly certain double shell planetary nebulae, e.g. NGC 2392. In an attempt therefore to further explore a possible similarity between the two phenomena, physical models for planetary nebulae are used to model the SN nebulosities. It is found that the dynamical models for the evolution of PNe developed by Phillips and Reay (1977) allow reasonable fits for the SN1987A nebula, suggesting that the SN nebula is the result of two distinct shell ejections on the part of the progenitor star when this was in its RSG phase, thus establishing an analogy between the behaviour of red giants of large and small mass.