Campaign of AAVSO Monitoring of the CH Cygni Symbiotic System in Support of Chandra and HST Observations (Abstract)

Volume 41 number 1 (2013)

Margarita Karovska

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138; mkarovska@cfa.harvard.edu

Abstract

CH Cyg is one of the most interesting interacting binaries in which a compact object, a white dwarf or a neutron star, accretes from the wind of an evolved giant or supergiant. CH Cyg is a member of the symbiotic systems group, and at about 250pc it is one of the closest systems. Symbiotic systems are accreting binaries, which are likely progenitors of a fraction of Pre-Planetary and Planetary Nebulae, and of a fraction of SN type Ia (the cosmic distance scale indicators). We carried out Chandra and HST observations of CH Cyg in March 2012 as part of a follow-up investigation of the central region of CH Cyg and its precessing jet, including the multi-structures that were discovered in 2008. I will describe here the campaign of multi-wavelength observations, including photometry and spectroscopy, that were carried out by AAVSO members in support of the space-based observations.