RS Ophiuchi (2006): Insights from High Resolution X-ray Spectroscopy

We present high resolution grating spectra obtained with Chandra and XMM-Newton during the 2006 outburst of RS Ophiuchi. Spectra were obtained between 14 and 239 days after the outburst began, and reveal new details which allow us to understand the origin of the X-ray emission at each stage of the outburst. We used white dwarf atmospheric model fitting to place constraints on the mass of the white dwarf, which appears to be extremely massive and close to the Chandrasekhar limit.