The Distance to the S147 Supernova Remnant

• Published in: The Astrophysical journal Vol. 968; no. 2; pp. 94 - 102
• Main Authors: Kochanek, C. S., Raymond, John C., Caldwell, Nelson
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia The American Astronomical Society 01-06-2024; IOP Publishing
• Subjects: Absorption; Blue stars; Companion stars; Distance measure; H alpha line; Hot stars; Interstellar line absorption; Parallax; Pulsars; Spectroscopy; Spectrum analysis; Supernova; Supernova remnants; Supernovae; Velocity
• ISSN: 0004-637X; 1538-4357
• DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ad4493

In the absence of a parallax distance to a pulsar or a surviving binary in a supernova remnant (SNR), distances to Galactic SNRs are generally very uncertain. However, by combining Gaia data with wide-field, multifiber echelle spectroscopy, it is now possible to obtain accurate distances to many SNRs with limited extinction by searching for the appearance of high-velocity Ca ii or Na i absorption lines in hot stars as a function of distance. We demonstrate this for the SNR S147 using the spectra of 259 luminous blue stars. We obtain a median distance of 1.37 kpc (1.30–1.47 kpc at 90% confidence), which is consistent with the median parallax distance to the pulsar of 1.46 kpc (1.12–2.10 kpc at 90% confidence) but with significantly smaller uncertainties. Our distance is also consistent with the distance to the candidate unbound binary companion in this SNR, HD 37424 at a photogeometric distance of 1.45 kpc (1.40–1.50 kpc at 1σ). The presence of high-velocity absorption lines is correlated with the Hα/O [iii] emission-line flux of the SNR but not with the radio flux.