Questions tagged [nova]

For questions about stellar explosions on white dwarfs caused by runaway fusion reactions in an accreted hydrogen atmoshphere and visible as a "new star". Distinct from a supernova.

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Has the rate of time passage been measured?

We know certain astronomical events in our neighborhood occur within a specific time interval,for example a solar flare, a nova, etc. Does the time interval of these 'standard metronomes' change if ...
aquagremlin's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
54 views

How can photoionization release photons? As in the coronal emission of a nova star?

The photoionization process absorbs energy (light), it doesn't release it.... So how can some astrophysicists say that photoionization releases the light responsible for the coronal emission of a star ...
Kurt Hikes's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
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How much time do I have left to easily spot the recently brightened Recurrent Nova RS Ophiuchi with binoculars and mild light pollution?

Excellent answers to Binocular-friendly star map to find the Recurrent Nova RS Ophiuchi? provide some helpful maps for circa 8° FOV binoculars, but due to spatial and potential meteorological ...
uhoh's user avatar
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2 votes
3 answers
86 views

Binocular-friendly star map to find the Recurrent Nova RS Ophiuchi?

I'd like to find or generate a map that will be useful for someone with an 8° FOV pair of binoculars to locate the Recurrent Nova RS Ophiuchi. As linked in The Observatory Science alert's Epic Nova ...
uhoh's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
1k views

Difference between Supernova Type Ia and Nova

What is the difference between Supernova Type Ia and Nova? Base on a web search, they seem to have a similar formation process, as they are both white dwarfs in a binary system who absorb masses from ...
Jack the Ranger's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
132 views

Distance and absolute brightness

This is an exercise from a text, I’m learning from and I can’t understand it so I’m asking just to develop my knowledge: The explosion of V603 Aql (Nova Aquilae) took place in June 1918. The nova ...
Paulina Góra's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
253 views

Assuming no light pollution, was "2C. 1406" ever visible to the naked eye?

Joseph Needham, in his Science and Civilisation in China Vol. III, claimed that there was an ancient record of a nova about three thousand years ago. As a result of private correspondences with a "Dr ...
dROOOze's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
74 views

Does Nickel show up in spectra of Nova?

Does a nova, not a supernova, get hot enough that nickel is produced despite its formation by fusion being an endothermic reaction? If nickel is made, does it make it out of the star into the nebula? ...
Wayfaring Stranger's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
42 views

How to decide which part of the data is analyzed? [closed]

I need to get the X-ray light curve of Classical Nova V1494 Aquilae (1999 No. 2) in Outburst. It is done long time ago, but I need to this by myself. While reading the papaer about the V1494 Aquilae, ...
4pie0's user avatar
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29 votes
2 answers
3k views

We know what a nova is, but how?

I work with astrophysicists and require some basic knowledge of many astronomical sources, however research priorities often demand that most of human knowledge on a subject be taken for granted. I ...
Sam's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
146 views

Identifying cataclysmic stellar phenomena

Cataclysms such as novas, kilonovas, supernova, magnetars, quasars, gamma ray bursts are rarely visible from Earth. Under what conditions (such as distance, day vs. night, naked eye vs. level of ...
Michael's user avatar
  • 329
0 votes
1 answer
178 views

Do novas create a nebula? Could a planet survive if its star exploded in a nova?

Does a nova, caused by runaway fusion in hydrogen accreted onto a white dwarf from a companion star, create a visible nebula? If a planet were in a circumbinary orbit around a binary pair that ...
YottaEngineer's user avatar