Infrared Observations of WY SGE (Nova SGE 1783)
Abstract
Infrared (JHK) observations of the Nova WY Sge 1783 (which is one of the oldest novae with accurately known positions) are presented and analyzed. The analysis of the IR data and available visual data indicates that, if some of the IR flux is produced by the disk, the distance to this old nova is between 500 and 1500 pc, assuming the visual extinction A(V) is about 1-3 mag (which is consistent with existing data). It was not possible to place stringent limits on the properties of the disk in this cataclysmic variable (CV), but the data are consistent with optically thick material and an accretion rate of 1-10 x 10 to the -10th solar mass/yr. The available data suggest that the disk in WY Sge resembles those observed in other dwarf novae, supporting the proposal of Shara et al. (1986) that CVs should resemble dwarf novae a few hundred years after a classical nova eruption.
- Publication:
-
The Astronomical Journal
- Pub Date:
- February 1988
- DOI:
- 10.1086/114652
- Bibcode:
- 1988AJ.....95..526K
- Keywords:
-
- Cataclysmic Variables;
- Dwarf Novae;
- Infrared Astronomy;
- Light Curve;
- Stellar Color;
- Stellar Spectrophotometry;
- Interstellar Extinction;
- Mass Transfer;
- Astronomy;
- STARS: MAGNETIC;
- STARS: NOVAE