Have the elusive progenitors of type Ia supernovae been discovered?

The recent detection of Ha emission in the Type Ia supernova SN 2002ic could be taken to mean that the elusive progenitor systems of Type Ia supernovae have finally been identified. At first glance, the observation appears to support a single-degenerate scenario, in which the white dwarf accretes from a normal companion. In this Letter we show that the opposite may be true, and the observations may support the merger of two white dwarfs as the cause for Type Ia supernovae.