The Newly Discovered Nova Super-remnant Surrounding Recurrent Nova T Coronae Borealis: Will it Light Up during the Coming Eruption?
| Autor: | Michael M. Shara, Kenneth M. Lanzetta, Alexandra Masegian, James T. Garland, Stefan Gromoll, Joanna Mikolajewska, Mikita Misiura, David Valls-Gabaud, Frederick M. Walter, John K. Webb |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2024 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol 977, Iss 2, p L48 (2024) |
| Druh dokumentu: | article |
| ISSN: | 2041-8213 2041-8205 |
| DOI: | 10.3847/2041-8213/ad991e |
| Popis: | A century or less separates the thermonuclear-powered eruptions of recurrent novae (RNe) in the hydrogen-rich envelopes of massive white dwarfs. The colliding ejecta of successive RN events are predicted to always generate very large (tens of parsecs) super-remnants; only two examples are currently known. T CrB offers an excellent opportunity to test this prediction. As it will almost certainly undergo its next, once in ∼80 yr RN event between 2024 and 2026, we carried out very deep narrowband and continuum imaging to search for the predicted, piled-up ejecta of the past millennia. While nothing is detected in continuum or narrowband [O iii ] images, a ∼30 pc diameter, faint nebulosity surrounding T CrB is clearly present in deep H α , [N ii ], and [S ii ] narrowband Condor Array Telescope imagery. We predict that these newly detected nebulosities, as well as the recent ejecta that have not yet reached the super-remnant, are far too optically thin to capture all but a tiny fraction of the photons emitted by RN flashes. We thus predict that fluorescent light echoes will not be detectable following the imminent nova flash of T CrB. Dust may be released by the T CrB red giant wind in preeruption outbursts, but we have no reliable estimates of its quantity or geometrical distribution. While we cannot predict the morphology or intensity of dust-induced continuum light echoes following the coming flash, we encourage multiepoch Hubble Space Telescope optical imaging as well as James Webb Space Telescope infrared imaging of T CrB during the year after it erupts. |
| Databáze: | Directory of Open Access Journals |
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