On the progenitors of core-collapse supernovae

Theory holds that a star born with an initial mass between about 8 and 140 times the mass of the Sun will end its life through the catastrophic gravitational collapse of its iron core to a neutron star or black hole. This core collapse process is thought to usually be accompanied by the ejection of the star’s envelope as a supernova. This established theory is now being tested observationally, with over three dozen core-collapse supernovae having had the properties of their progenitor stars directly measured through the examination of high-resolution images taken prior to the explosion. Here I review what has been learned from these studies and briefly examine the potential impact on stellar evolution theory, the existence of “failed supernovae”, and our understanding of the core-collapse explosion mechanism.