The Asynchronous Polar V1432 Aquilae and its Path Back to Synchronism
Abstract
V1432 Aquilae is the only known eclipsing asynchronous polar. In this respect it is unique and therefore merits our attention. We report the results of a 15-year campaign by the globally distributed Center for Backyard Astrophysics to observe V1432 Aql and investigate its return to synchronism. Originally knocked out of synchrony by a nova explosion before observing records began, the magnetic white dwarf in V1432 Aql is currently rotating slower than the orbital period but is gradually catching up. The fortuitously high inclination of the binary orbit affords us the bonus of eclipses providing a regular clock against which these temporal changes can be assessed. At the present rate, synchronism should be achieved around 2100. The continually changing trajectory of the accretion stream as it follows the magnetic field lines of the rotating white dwarf produces a complex pattern of light emission which we have measured and documented, providing comprehensive observational evidence against which physical models of the system can be tested.
- Publication:
-
Society for Astronomical Sciences Annual Symposium
- Pub Date:
- May 2014
- DOI:
- 10.48550/arXiv.1406.4061
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1406.4061
- Bibcode:
- 2014SASS...33..163B
- Keywords:
-
- Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 14 pages, 16 figures, presented at the Society for Astronomical Sciences 33rd Annual Symposium on Telescope Science, June 2014, acknowledgements added