The Progenitor of the Type IIb SN 2008ax Revisited

Understand

Hubble Space Telescope observations of the site of the supernova (SN) 2008ax obtained in 2011 and 2013 reveal that the possible progenitor object detected in pre-explosion images was in fact multiple.

• Four point sources are resolved in the new, higher-resolution images.
• We identify one of the sources with the fading SN.
• The other three objects are consistent with single supergiant stars.