Working Together to Understand Novae (Abstract)

Volume 41 number 1 (2013)

Jennifer L. Sokoloski

Columbia Astrophysics Lab, 1027 Pupin Hall, Mail Code 5247, 550 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027; jeno@astro.columbia.edu

Abstract

In ancient times, people occasionally looked up to find a “nova,” or new star, in the sky. With at least thirty-five per year in our galaxy, novae are the most common major stellar explosions. Although researchers now understand what causes a white dwarf to suddenly brighten into a nova, many puzzles remain, such as why novae appear to eject orders of magnitude more material than predicted by theory, and how a uniform eruption on a spherical white dwarf can expel matter in the form of jets, clumps, and rings. Coordinated observations at radio, optical, and X-ray wavelengths can answer these questions. I will describe how the AAVSO’s new nova forum (http://www.aavso.org/forums/variable-stars/nova-project) is designed to enhance communication between amateur astronomers and professional astronomers who are using X-ray and newly upgraded radio telescopes to observe novae. Participants in the nova forum will have the opportunity to learn about novae, share their own expertise, and be a part of the process of scientific discovery.