---
DOAJ_listed: '1'
OA_place: publisher
OA_type: gold
PlanS_conform: '1'
_id: '22303'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: "We present the discovery of AT 2024wpp (‘Whippet’), a fast and luminous 18cow-like
transient. At a redshift of z = 0 . 0868 , revealed by Keck Cosmic Web Imager
spectroscopy of its faint star-forming host, it is the fourth-nearest example
of its class to date. Rapid identification of the source in the Zwicky Transient
Facility data stream permitted ultraviolet-through- optical observations to be
obtained prior to peak, allowing the first determination of the peak bolometric
luminosity ( 2 ×1045 erg s−1 ), maximum photospheric radius ( 1015 cm), and total
radiated energy ( 1051 erg) of an 18cow-like object. We present results from a
comprehensive multiwavelength observing campaign, including a far-ultraviolet
spectrum from the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope and
deep imaging extending > 100 d post-explosion from the Very Large Telescope, Hubble
Space Telescope , Very Large Array, and Atacama Large Millimetre Array. We interpret
the observations under a model in which a rapidly accreting central engine blows
a fast ( ∼0.2 c ) wind into the surrounding medium and irradiates it with X-rays.
The high Doppler velocities and intense ionization within this wind prevent identifiable
spectroscopic features from appearing in the ejecta or in the surrounding circumstellar
material. Weak H and He signatures do emerge in the spectra after 35 d in the
form of double-peaked narrow lines. Each peak is individually narrow (full width
δv ∼3000 km s−1 ) but the two components are separated by \x03v ∼6600 km s−1 ,
indicating stable structures of denser material, possibly representing streams
of tidal ejecta or an ablated companion star."
acknowledgement: "We thank Eliot Quataert, Luc Dessart, Ben Margalit, Ross Ferguson,
Aaron Tohuvavohu, Brad Cenko, and Jamie Kennea for useful discussions. We thank
the referee for helpful suggestions that improved the manuscript.\r\n\r\nBased on
observations obtained with the Samuel Oschin Telescope 48-in. and the 60-in. Telescope
at the Palomar Observatory as part of the Zwicky Transient Facility project. ZTF
is supported by the National Science Foundation under grant no. AST-2034437 and
a collaboration including Caltech, IPAC, the Oskar Klein Center at Stockholm University,
the University of Maryland, University of California, Berkeley, the University of
Wisconsin at Milwaukee, University of Warwick, Ruhr University Bochum, Cornell University,
Northwestern University and Drexel University. Operations are conducted by COO,
IPAC, and UW.\r\n\r\nThe Liverpool Telescope is operated on the island of La Palma
by Liverpool John Moores University in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los
Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias with financial support from
the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council.\r\n\r\nBased on observations made
with the Nordic Optical Telescope, owned in collaboration by the University of Turku
and Aarhus University, and operated jointly by Aarhus University, the University
of Turku and the University of Oslo, representing Denmark, Finland and Norway, the
University of Iceland and Stockholm University at the Observatorio del Roque de
los Muchachos, La Palma, Spain, of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias. The
NOT data were obtained under program ID 68–501.\r\n\r\nThis work made use of data
supplied by the UK Swift Science Data Centre at the University of Leicester. We
are grateful to Phil Evans, Aaron Tohuvavohu, and Jamie Kennea for advice on the
Swift/XRT data reduction.\r\n\r\nSome of the data presented herein were obtained
at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among
the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and NASA.
The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M.
Keck Foundation. The authors wish to recognize and acknowledge the very significant
cultural role and reverence that the summit of Maunakea has always had within the
indigenous Hawaiian community. We are most fortunate to have the opportunity to
conduct observations from this mountain.\r\n\r\nSome observations reported here
were obtained at the MMT Observatory, a joint facility of the University of Arizona
and the Smithsonian Institution.\r\n\r\nThe National Radio Astronomy Observatory
and Green Bank Observatory are facilities of the U.S. National Science Foundation
operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc. This paper
makes use of the following ALMA data: ADS/JAO.ALMA no. 2023.1.01730.T ALMA is a
partnership of ESO (representing its member states), NSF (USA) and NINS (Japan),
together with NRC (Canada), NSTC and ASIAA (Taiwan), and KASI (Republic of Korea),
in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. The Joint ALMA Observatory is operated
by ESO, AUI/NRAO, and NAOJ.\r\n\r\nBased on observations collected at the European
Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere under ESO programme
2114.D-5014(E). We thank John Pritchard and Paula Sanchez Saez, and the entire observatory
staff, for their excellent support.\r\n\r\nBased on observations collected at the
European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, Chile,
as part of ePESSTO+ (the advanced Public ESO Spectroscopic Survey for Transient
Objects Survey – PI: Inserra). ePESSTO+ observations were obtained under ESO program
ID 112.25JQ.\r\n\r\nThis research is based on observations made with the NASA/ESA
Hubble Space Telescope obtained from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which
is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc.,
under NASA contract NAS 5–26555. These observations are associated with programs
16714, 17477, and 17889.\r\n\r\nBased on observations obtained at the Southern Astrophysical
Research (SOAR) telescope, which is a joint project of the Ministério da Ciência,
Tecnologia e Inovações (MCTI/LNA) do Brasil, the US National Science Foundation’s
NOIRLab, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), and Michigan State
University (MSU).\r\n\r\nThe Pan-STARRS1 Surveys (PS1) and the PS1 public science
archive have been made possible through contributions by the Institute for Astronomy,
the University of Hawaii, the Pan-STARRS Project Office, the Max-Planck Society
and its participating institutes, the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg
and the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Garching, The Johns Hopkins
University, Durham University, the University of Edinburgh, the Queen’s University
Belfast, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the Las Cumbres Observatory
Global Telescope Network Incorporated, the National Central University of Taiwan,
the Space Telescope Science Institute, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
under grant no. NNX08AR22G issued through the Planetary Science Division of the
NASA Science Mission Directorate, the National Science Foundation grant no. AST–1238877,
the University of Maryland, Eotvos Lorand University (ELTE), the Los Alamos National
Laboratory, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.\r\n\r\nThis research made
use of ccdproc, an astropy package for image reduction (M. Craig et al. 2025).\r\n\r\nGS
and AYQH acknowledge support in part from a Sloan Research Fellowship (award no.
FG-2024-21320) from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. CS and AYQH acknowledge support
in part from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) grant 80NSSC24K0377,
from HST grant HST-GO-17477.006-A, and from a Scialog award from the Research Corporation
for Science Advancement (‘Early Science with the LSST’).\r\n\r\nPC acknowledges
support from the Zhejiang Provincial Top-Level Research Support Program.\r\n\r\nIA
and JC are supported by the National Science Foundation award AST 2505775, NASA
grant 24-ADAP24-0159, Scialog award SA-LSST-2024-102a, and the Discovery Alliance
Catalyst Fellowship Mentors award 2025-62192-CM-19\r\n\r\nAA acknowledges support
from the Ministry of Education Yushan Fellow Program (MOE-111-YSFMS-0008-001-P1)
and from the National Science and Technology Council, Taiwan (NSTC 114-2112-M-008-021-MY3).\r\n\r\nT-WC
acknowledges support from the Ministry of Education Yushan Fellow Program (MOE-111-YSFMS-0008-001-P1)
and from the National Science and Technology Council, Taiwan (NSTC 114-2112-M-008-021-MY3).\r\n\r\nERC
acknowledges support from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration through
the Astrophysics Theory Program, grant 80NSSC24K0897.\r\n\r\nGD acknowledges support
from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under
the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 101199369.\r\n\r\nDF’s contribution
to this material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation
under award no. AST-2401779.\r\n\r\nAGY’s research is supported by ISF, IMOS, and
BSF grants, as well as the André Deloro Institute for Space and Optics Research,
the Center for Experimental Physics, a WIS-MIT Sagol grant, the Norman E Alexander
Family M Foundation ULTRASAT Data Center Fund, and Yeda-Sela; AGY is the incumbent
of the The Arlyn Imberman Professorial Chair.\r\n\r\nLG acknowledges financial support
from AGAUR, CSIC, MCIN, and AEI 10.13039/501100011033 under projects PID2023-151307NB-I00,
PIE 20215AT016, and CEX2020-001058-M.\r\n\r\nMG acknowledges support from an STFC
PhD studentship and from the Faculty of Science and Technology at Lancaster University.\r\n\r\nCPG
acknowledges financial support from the Secretary of Universities and Research (Government
of Catalonia) and by the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme of the European
Union under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie and the Beatriu de Pinós 2021 BP 00168 programme,
from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MCIN) and the Agencia Estatal
de Investigación (AEI) 10.13039/501100011033 under the PID2023-151307NB-I00 SNNEXT
project, from Centro Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) under the PIE
project 20215AT016 and the program Unidad de Excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2020-001058-M,
and from the Departament de Recerca i Universitats de la Generalitat de Catalunya
through the 2021-SGR-01270 grant.\r\n\r\nCL is supported by DoE award no. DE-SC0025599.\r\n\r\nZwicky
Transient Facility, W. M. Keck Observatory, and MMT Observatory access was supported
by Northwestern University and the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and
Research in Astrophysics (CIERA).\r\n\r\nAM gratefully acknowledges support from
an STFC PhD studentship and the Faculty of Science and Technology at Lancaster University.\r\n\r\nTEMB
is funded by Horizon Europe ERC grant no. 101125877.\r\n\r\nMN is supported by the
European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research
and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 948381).\r\n\r\nNR is supported by
a Northwestern University Presidential Fellowship Award. We gratefully acknowledge
the support of the NSF-Simons AI-Institute for the Sky (SkAI) via grants NSF AST-2421845
and Simons Foundation MPS-AI-00010513.\r\n\r\nAS acknowledges the Warwick Astrophysics
PhD prize scholarship made possible thanks to a generous philanthropic donation.\r\n\r\nSJS
acknowledges funding from STFC grant ST/Y001605/1, a Royal Society Research Professorship
and the Hintze Family Charitable Foundation."
article_number: stag678
article_processing_charge: Yes
article_type: original
arxiv: 1
author:
- first_name: Daniel A
full_name: Perley, Daniel A
last_name: Perley
- first_name: Anna Y Q
full_name: Ho, Anna Y Q
last_name: Ho
- first_name: Zoë
full_name: McGrath, Zoë
last_name: McGrath
- first_name: Michael
full_name: Camilo, Michael
last_name: Camilo
- first_name: Cassie
full_name: Sevilla, Cassie
last_name: Sevilla
- first_name: Ping
full_name: Chen, Ping
last_name: Chen
- first_name: Genevieve
full_name: Schroeder, Genevieve
last_name: Schroeder
- first_name: Taya
full_name: Govreen-Segal, Taya
last_name: Govreen-Segal
- first_name: Aleksandra
full_name: Bochenek, Aleksandra
last_name: Bochenek
- first_name: Yu-Jing
full_name: Qin, Yu-Jing
last_name: Qin
- first_name: James H
full_name: Gillanders, James H
last_name: Gillanders
- first_name: Benjamin
full_name: Amend, Benjamin
last_name: Amend
- first_name: Joseph P
full_name: Anderson, Joseph P
last_name: Anderson
- first_name: Igor
full_name: Andreoni, Igor
last_name: Andreoni
- first_name: Amar
full_name: Aryan, Amar
last_name: Aryan
- first_name: Eric C
full_name: Bellm, Eric C
last_name: Bellm
- first_name: Joshua S
full_name: Bloom, Joshua S
last_name: Bloom
- first_name: Thomas
full_name: de Boer, Thomas
last_name: de Boer
- first_name: Jonathan
full_name: Carney, Jonathan
last_name: Carney
- first_name: Ilaria
full_name: Caiazzo, Ilaria
id: 8ae5b6e7-2a03-11ee-914d-b58ed7a3b47d
last_name: Caiazzo
orcid: 0000-0002-4770-5388
- first_name: Ken C
full_name: Chambers, Ken C
last_name: Chambers
- first_name: Panos
full_name: Charalampopoulos, Panos
last_name: Charalampopoulos
- first_name: Ting-Wan
full_name: Chen, Ting-Wan
last_name: Chen
- first_name: Tracy X
full_name: Chen, Tracy X
last_name: Chen
- first_name: Eric R
full_name: Coughlin, Eric R
last_name: Coughlin
- first_name: Michael
full_name: Coughlin, Michael
last_name: Coughlin
- first_name: Michel
full_name: Dennefeld, Michel
last_name: Dennefeld
- first_name: Georgios
full_name: Dimitriadis, Georgios
last_name: Dimitriadis
- first_name: Christoffer
full_name: Fremling, Christoffer
last_name: Fremling
- first_name: Danielle
full_name: Frostig, Danielle
last_name: Frostig
- first_name: Avishay
full_name: Gal-Yam, Avishay
last_name: Gal-Yam
- first_name: Lluís
full_name: Galbany, Lluís
last_name: Galbany
- first_name: Anjashay
full_name: Gangopadhyay, Anjashay
last_name: Gangopadhyay
- first_name: Melzie
full_name: Ghendrih, Melzie
last_name: Ghendrih
- first_name: Matthew J
full_name: Graham, Matthew J
last_name: Graham
- first_name: Mariusz
full_name: Gromadzki, Mariusz
last_name: Gromadzki
- first_name: Steven L
full_name: Groom, Steven L
last_name: Groom
- first_name: Claudia P
full_name: Gutiérrez, Claudia P
last_name: Gutiérrez
- first_name: K -Ryan
full_name: Hinds, K -Ryan
last_name: Hinds
- first_name: Mark E
full_name: Huber, Mark E
last_name: Huber
- first_name: Cosimo
full_name: Inserra, Cosimo
last_name: Inserra
- first_name: Benjamin C
full_name: Kaiser, Benjamin C
last_name: Kaiser
- first_name: Mansi M
full_name: Kasliwal, Mansi M
last_name: Kasliwal
- first_name: Niilo E
full_name: Koivisto, Niilo E
last_name: Koivisto
- first_name: Chien-Cheng
full_name: Lin, Chien-Cheng
last_name: Lin
- first_name: Chang
full_name: Liu, Chang
last_name: Liu
- first_name: Thomas B
full_name: Lowe, Thomas B
last_name: Lowe
- first_name: Eugene
full_name: Magnier, Eugene
last_name: Magnier
- first_name: Ashish A
full_name: Mahabal, Ashish A
last_name: Mahabal
- first_name: Andrew
full_name: Milligan, Andrew
last_name: Milligan
- first_name: Paloma
full_name: Minguez, Paloma
last_name: Minguez
- first_name: Geoffrey
full_name: Mo, Geoffrey
last_name: Mo
- first_name: Tomás E
full_name: Müller-Bravo, Tomás E
last_name: Müller-Bravo
- first_name: Matt
full_name: Nicholl, Matt
last_name: Nicholl
- first_name: Priscila J
full_name: Pessi, Priscila J
last_name: Pessi
- first_name: Giuliano
full_name: Pignata, Giuliano
last_name: Pignata
- first_name: Josiah
full_name: Purdum, Josiah
last_name: Purdum
- first_name: Nabeel
full_name: Rehemtulla, Nabeel
last_name: Rehemtulla
- first_name: R Michael
full_name: Rich, R Michael
last_name: Rich
- first_name: Anwesha
full_name: Sahu, Anwesha
last_name: Sahu
- first_name: Avinash
full_name: Singh, Avinash
last_name: Singh
- first_name: Stephen J
full_name: Smartt, Stephen J
last_name: Smartt
- first_name: Ian A
full_name: Smith, Ian A
last_name: Smith
- first_name: Jesper
full_name: Sollerman, Jesper
last_name: Sollerman
- first_name: Gokul
full_name: Srinivasaragavan, Gokul
last_name: Srinivasaragavan
- first_name: Shubham
full_name: Srivastav, Shubham
last_name: Srivastav
- first_name: Robert D
full_name: Stein, Robert D
last_name: Stein
- first_name: Steve
full_name: Schulze, Steve
last_name: Schulze
- first_name: Jack W
full_name: Tweddle, Jack W
last_name: Tweddle
- first_name: Richard
full_name: Wainscoat, Richard
last_name: Wainscoat
- first_name: Jacob L
full_name: Wise, Jacob L
last_name: Wise
- first_name: Lin
full_name: Yan, Lin
last_name: Yan
- first_name: David R
full_name: Young, David R
last_name: Young
citation:
ama: 'Perley DA, Ho AYQ, McGrath Z, et al. AT 2024wpp: An extremely luminous fast
ultraviolet transient powered by accretion onto a black hole. Monthly Notices
of the Royal Astronomical Society. 2026;549(1). doi:10.1093/mnras/stag678'
apa: 'Perley, D. A., Ho, A. Y. Q., McGrath, Z., Camilo, M., Sevilla, C., Chen, P.,
… Young, D. R. (2026). AT 2024wpp: An extremely luminous fast ultraviolet transient
powered by accretion onto a black hole. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical
Society. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stag678'
chicago: 'Perley, Daniel A, Anna Y Q Ho, Zoë McGrath, Michael Camilo, Cassie Sevilla,
Ping Chen, Genevieve Schroeder, et al. “AT 2024wpp: An Extremely Luminous Fast
Ultraviolet Transient Powered by Accretion onto a Black Hole.” Monthly Notices
of the Royal Astronomical Society. Oxford University Press, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stag678.'
ieee: 'D. A. Perley et al., “AT 2024wpp: An extremely luminous fast ultraviolet
transient powered by accretion onto a black hole,” Monthly Notices of the Royal
Astronomical Society, vol. 549, no. 1. Oxford University Press, 2026.'
ista: 'Perley DA, Ho AYQ, McGrath Z, Camilo M, Sevilla C, Chen P, Schroeder G, Govreen-Segal
T, Bochenek A, Qin Y-J, Gillanders JH, Amend B, Anderson JP, Andreoni I, Aryan
A, Bellm EC, Bloom JS, de Boer T, Carney J, Caiazzo I, Chambers KC, Charalampopoulos
P, Chen T-W, Chen TX, Coughlin ER, Coughlin M, Dennefeld M, Dimitriadis G, Fremling
C, Frostig D, Gal-Yam A, Galbany L, Gangopadhyay A, Ghendrih M, Graham MJ, Gromadzki
M, Groom SL, Gutiérrez CP, Hinds K-R, Huber ME, Inserra C, Kaiser BC, Kasliwal
MM, Koivisto NE, Lin C-C, Liu C, Lowe TB, Magnier E, Mahabal AA, Milligan A, Minguez
P, Mo G, Müller-Bravo TE, Nicholl M, Pessi PJ, Pignata G, Purdum J, Rehemtulla
N, Rich RM, Sahu A, Singh A, Smartt SJ, Smith IA, Sollerman J, Srinivasaragavan
G, Srivastav S, Stein RD, Schulze S, Tweddle JW, Wainscoat R, Wise JL, Yan L,
Young DR. 2026. AT 2024wpp: An extremely luminous fast ultraviolet transient powered
by accretion onto a black hole. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
549(1), stag678.'
mla: 'Perley, Daniel A., et al. “AT 2024wpp: An Extremely Luminous Fast Ultraviolet
Transient Powered by Accretion onto a Black Hole.” Monthly Notices of the Royal
Astronomical Society, vol. 549, no. 1, stag678, Oxford University Press, 2026,
doi:10.1093/mnras/stag678.'
short: D.A. Perley, A.Y.Q. Ho, Z. McGrath, M. Camilo, C. Sevilla, P. Chen, G. Schroeder,
T. Govreen-Segal, A. Bochenek, Y.-J. Qin, J.H. Gillanders, B. Amend, J.P. Anderson,
I. Andreoni, A. Aryan, E.C. Bellm, J.S. Bloom, T. de Boer, J. Carney, I. Caiazzo,
K.C. Chambers, P. Charalampopoulos, T.-W. Chen, T.X. Chen, E.R. Coughlin, M. Coughlin,
M. Dennefeld, G. Dimitriadis, C. Fremling, D. Frostig, A. Gal-Yam, L. Galbany,
A. Gangopadhyay, M. Ghendrih, M.J. Graham, M. Gromadzki, S.L. Groom, C.P. Gutiérrez,
K.-R. Hinds, M.E. Huber, C. Inserra, B.C. Kaiser, M.M. Kasliwal, N.E. Koivisto,
C.-C. Lin, C. Liu, T.B. Lowe, E. Magnier, A.A. Mahabal, A. Milligan, P. Minguez,
G. Mo, T.E. Müller-Bravo, M. Nicholl, P.J. Pessi, G. Pignata, J. Purdum, N. Rehemtulla,
R.M. Rich, A. Sahu, A. Singh, S.J. Smartt, I.A. Smith, J. Sollerman, G. Srinivasaragavan,
S. Srivastav, R.D. Stein, S. Schulze, J.W. Tweddle, R. Wainscoat, J.L. Wise, L.
Yan, D.R. Young, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 549 (2026).
das_tickbox: '1'
dataavailabilitystatement: All photometry is provided in the supplementary data files.
Spectroscopy will be made available on WISEREP, and is available on request to the
lead author.
date_created: 2026-07-13T10:50:10Z
date_published: 2026-06-01T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-07-13T14:36:24Z
day: '01'
ddc:
- '520'
department:
- _id: IlCa
doi: 10.1093/mnras/stag678
external_id:
arxiv:
- '2601.03337'
file:
- access_level: open_access
checksum: a5827b9f68f1731b8c8df18142c0ef38
content_type: application/pdf
creator: dernst
date_created: 2026-07-13T14:35:34Z
date_updated: 2026-07-13T14:35:34Z
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fulldoi: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stag678
has_accepted_license: '1'
intvolume: ' 549'
issue: '1'
keyword:
- 'stars: black holes'
- 'supernovae: individual: AT2024wpp'
- 'radio continuum: transients'
language:
- iso: eng
month: '06'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
publication: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
publication_identifier:
eissn:
- 1365-2966
issn:
- 0035-8711
publication_status: published
publisher: Oxford University Press
quality_controlled: '1'
researchdata_availability: upon request
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
supplementarymaterial: yes
title: 'AT 2024wpp: An extremely luminous fast ultraviolet transient powered by accretion
onto a black hole'
tmp:
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legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
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short: CC BY (4.0)
type: journal_article
user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
volume: 549
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...