The recovery of the old nova RS Car (1895) |
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| Authors: | Antonio Bianchini † Brian Alford ‡ Ronald Canterna Massimo Della Valle ‡ |
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| Institution: | Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Wyoming, PO Box 3905, Laramie, WY 82071, USA;Astronomical Observatory of Arcetri, Florence, Italy |
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| Abstract: | Low-resolution spectra, taken at La Silla (ESO), identify the old nova RS Car (1895) as a ∼18 mag star located 7 arcsec southwest from the previous published position. This suggests a much brighter absolute magnitude of the old nova, M v ∼5.4, than previously suspected. The spectrum reveals a continuum energy distribution typical of optically thick accretion discs and quite a high excitation state of the gas. The possible detection of the AlO λ 4843 emission band is discussed. |
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| Keywords: | accretion accretion discs circumstellar matter stars: individual: RS Car novae cataclysmic variables |
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