Radio observations of the supernova SN 1979c in M100 are reported. Observations were made when the supernova was near maximum optical brightness in April 1979 and a year later at 6 cm by the partially completed VLA. No radio emission was detected down to a limit of 0.3 mJy during the first epoch, however at the second a strong 5.4-mJy point source was found at the position of the optical supernova. Observations lead to estimates of a brightness temperature greater than 5 x 10 to the 9th K, diameter greater than 4 x 10 to the 15th cm, and 0.00002 arcsec and a spectral power of 1.5 x 10 to the 27th erg/sec per Hz for a distance of 16 Mpc, which is 180 times greater than that of Cas A. It is suggested that the radio source is a supernova-like phenomenon rather than a supernova remnant, although it may be an extremely young and active pulsar. In addition, upper limits to the radio emission from three older supernova remnants in M100 are obtained, as well as a detailed map of the extended radio emission associated with the galactic center.
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Weiler et al. (1981) studied this question.