V803 Centauri

Last updated
V803 Cen

V803CenLightCurve.png
Three light curves for V803 Centauri, on three timescales, hours (plot A), days (plot B) and years (plot C). Adapted from Patterson et al. (2000), [1] Kato et al. (2004) [2] and Levitan et al. (2015) [3]
Observation data
Epoch J2000.0       Equinox J2000.0
Constellation Centaurus
Right ascension 13h 23m 44.54s [4]
Declination −41° 44′ 29.54″ [4]
Apparent magnitude  (V)12.7 - 17.7 [5]
Characteristics
Spectral type pec
U−B color index −0.9 - −1.0 [6]
B−V color index +0.1 [6]
Variable type AM CVn [7]
Astrometry
Proper motion (μ)RA: −3.907 [4] mas/yr
Dec.: +11.978 [4] mas/yr
Parallax (π)3.4885±0.0599  mas [4]
Distance 930 ± 20  ly
(287 ± 5  pc)
Absolute magnitude  (MV)5.93 [7]
Details
White dwarf
Mass 0.8 - 1.2 [7]   M☉
Donor star
Mass 0.06 - 0.11 [7]   M☉
Other designations
V803 Centauri, V803  Cen, AE-1, 2MASS  J13234454-4144294, AAVSO  1317-41.
Database references
SIMBAD data

V803 Centauri (V803 Cen) is a cataclysmic binary consisting of a dwarf helium star losing mass to a white dwarf. It is an example of the AM Canum Venaticorum (AM CVn) type of cataclysmic variable stars. [1]

Aina Margareta Elvius announced the discovery of this star in 1975. [8] It was given its variable star designation, V803 Centauri, in 1978. [9] The light curve shows a "low state" at about magnitude 17, with rapid outbursts of several magnitudes lasting only a few days or brighter super-outbursts lasting a few weeks, and a "high state" at up to 13th magnitude. V803 Centauri is most often seen in the high state, where it may stay bright for a year or more. [10]

The donor star has been radically stripped of material and now only around 0.1  M☉ remains. With its outer layers removed, the helium core has expanded and cooled and is almost impossible to detect directly. The accreting white dwarf has a temperature around 14,000  K . [11] Most of the light from V803 Cen is produced by an accretion disk, especially when the system is in outburst. The accretion disk shows a blackbody temperature around 30,000 K. [12]

References

  1. 1 2 Patterson, Joseph; Walker, Stan; Kemp, Jonathan; O'Donoghue, Darragh; Bos, Marc; Stubbings, Rod (2000). "V803 Centauri: A Helium-rich Dwarf Nova". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 112 (771). The University of Chicago Press on behalf of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific: 625–631. Bibcode:2000PASP..112..625P. doi: 10.1086/316561 . JSTOR   316561.
  2. ↑ Kato, Taichi; Stubbings, Rod; Monard, Berto; Butterworth, Neil D.; Bolt, Greg; Richards, Tom (March 25, 2004). "V803 Centauri: Helium Dwarf Nova Mimicking a WZ Sge-Type Superoutburst". Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan. 56: S89 –S98. arXiv: astro-ph/0307308 . Bibcode:2004PASJ...56S..89K. doi: 10.1093/pasj/56.sp1.S89 .
  3. ↑ Levitan, David; Groot, Paul J.; Prince, Thomas A.; Kulkarni, Shrinivas R.; Laher, Russ; Ofek, Eran O.; Sesar, Branimir; Surace, Jason (January 2015). "Long-term photometric behaviour of outbursting AM CVn systems". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 446 (1): 391–410. arXiv: 1410.6987 . Bibcode:2015MNRAS.446..391L. doi: 10.1093/mnras/stu2105 .
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Vallenari, A.; et al. (Gaia collaboration) (2023). "Gaia Data Release 3. Summary of the content and survey properties". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 674: A1. arXiv: 2208.00211 . Bibcode:2023A&A...674A...1G. doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202243940 . S2CID   244398875. Gaia DR3 record for this source at VizieR.
  5. ↑ Samus', N. N.; Kazarovets, E. V.; Durlevich, O. V.; Kireeva, N. N.; Pastukhova, E. N. (2017). "General catalogue of variable stars: Version GCVS 5.1". Astronomy Reports. 61 (1): 80. Bibcode:2017ARep...61...80S. doi:10.1134/S1063772917010085.
  6. 1 2 Elvius, A. (1975). "Variable blue object with a peculiar spectrum". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 44: 117. Bibcode:1975A&A....44..117E.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Solheim, J.-E. (2010). "AM CVn Stars: Status and Challenges". Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 122 (896): 1133–1163. Bibcode:2010PASP..122.1133S. doi: 10.1086/656680 .
  8. ↑ Elvius, A. (November 1975). "Variable blur object with a peculiar spectrum". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 44: 117–121. Bibcode:1975A&A....44..117E.
  9. ↑ Kholopov, P. N.; Kukarkina, N. P.; Perova, N. B. (April 1978). "63rd Name-List of Variable Stars" (PDF). Information Bulletin on Variable Stars. 1414: 1–10. Bibcode:1978IBVS.1414....1K . Retrieved 16 January 2025.
  10. ↑ Duffy, C.; Ramsay, G.; Steeghs, D.; Dhillon, V.; Kennedy, M. R.; Mata Sánchez, D.; Ackley, K.; Dyer, M.; Lyman, J.; Ulaczyk, K.; Galloway, D. K.; O'Brien, P.; Noysena, K.; Nuttall, L.; Pollacco, D. (2021). "Evidence that short-period AM CVN systems are diverse in outburst behaviour". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 502 (4): 4953. arXiv: 2102.04428 . Bibcode:2021MNRAS.502.4953D. doi: 10.1093/mnras/stab389 .
  11. ↑ Bildsten, Lars; Townsley, Dean M.; Deloye, Christopher J.; Nelemans, Gijs (2006). "The Thermal State of the Accreting White Dwarf in AM Canum Venaticorum Binaries". The Astrophysical Journal. 640 (1): 466. arXiv: astro-ph/0510652 . Bibcode:2006ApJ...640..466B. doi:10.1086/500080.
  12. ↑ Sion, Edward M.; Linnell, Albert P.; Godon, Patrick; Ballouz, Ronald-Louis (2011). "The Hot Components of AM CVN Helium Cataclysmics". The Astrophysical Journal. 741 (1): 63. arXiv: 1108.1388 . Bibcode:2011ApJ...741...63S. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/741/1/63.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.