Polarimetric observations of SN 1987A in the Large Magallanic Clouds

Abstract

Polarimetric observations of SN 1987A were obtained with the 80 cm telescope at La Plata Observatory using a polarimeter with a helwave rotating sheet. We also used the 2.15 m telescope at CASLEO and the VATPOL polarimeter. We obtained 30 BVRI observations of linear polarization between February 28 and April 29 and 9 observations in the U filter between April 3 and April 10. The intrinsic polarization of SN 1987A decreased until March 25 when it starts to raise again. This increment is very outstanding in the VRI bands.