Title:  Detecting the Progenitors of Core-collapse Supernovae

Stephen Smartt
Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge


Abstract:

The exact evolution of massive stars up to the point of
explosion is still quite uncertain.  The progenitor of only one
core-collapse supernova, with an unambiguous spectral type, is known
(SN1987A).  A novel project will be described that may allow the direct
detection of core-collapse supernovae before explosion. The chances of
having a high-quality pre-explosion archive image of supernovae sites in
galaxies less than 20Mpc distant are now relatively good, and new
initiatives in Virtual Observatory science make the searching of
multi-telescope, multi-instrument archives very efficient. I will describe
results from an ongoing HST programme and three recent nearby supernovae
which suggest that all normal SNe II-P may have fairly low mass
progenitors (< 15 M_sun).  Prospects for the future will be discussed,
including the probability that definite detections of progenitor stars
will be made allowing constraints on colour, luminosity and mass.