YZ Reticuli
YZ Reticuli, also known as Nova Reticuli 2020 was a naked eye nova in the constellation Reticulum discovered on July 15, 2020. Previously it was known as a VY Sculptoris type object with the designation MGAB-V207.
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Observation data Epoch J2000.0 Equinox J2000.0 | |
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Constellation | Reticulum |
Right ascension | 03h 58m 29.55s[1] |
Declination | −54° 46′ 41.2″[1] |
Apparent magnitude (V) | 3.7 - 18.0[2] |
Characteristics | |
Variable type | Nova[3] (sdB?/DA?)[4] |
Astrometry | |
Proper motion (μ) | RA: 7.244[1] mas/yr Dec.: 2.984[1] mas/yr |
Parallax (π) | 0.3161 ± 0.0464[1] mas |
Distance | 2703+365 −293[5] pc |
Other designations | |
VY Sculptoris type
The variability of the object was first discovered by an amateur astronomer Gabriel Murawski and reported on August 6, 2019 with name MGAB-V207.[6] Archive photometry data from the Catalina Real-time Transient Survey and ASAS-SN shown nova-like (NL) brightness variations between magnitudes 15.8 and 17.0, exhibiting a deep dimming event in late 2006.[7] The spectrum shows a hot subdwarf (sdB) or a white dwarf origin,[4] which is consistent with VY Scl type objects.
Nova eruption

On July 15, 2020 Robert H. McNaught discovered a bright transient (magnitude 5.3)[8] coincident with the position of MGAB-V207 and it was spectroscopically confirmed by the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) as a classical nova on July 16. The spectrum includes Balmer, OI and FeII emission lines with P Cygni profiles.[3] Spectrum analysis from observations by the Advanced Technology Telescope revealed a similarity to Nova Sagittarii 1991, three days after maximum brightness.[9] Pre-discovery images show that the brightness peak happened on July 9, 2020 at magnitude 3.7.[10] In the days after the discovery, the nova faded by 0.2-0.3 magnitudes per day.[11] This is the third case when an already known cataclysmic variable has undergone a classical nova eruption, following V407 Cygni and V392 Persei.[12]
References
- Brown, A. G. A.; et al. (Gaia collaboration) (August 2018). "Gaia Data Release 2: Summary of the contents and survey properties". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 616. A1. arXiv:1804.09365. Bibcode:2018A&A...616A...1G. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201833051. Gaia DR2 record for this source at VizieR.
- Watson, C. L. (2006). "The International Variable Star Index (VSX)". The Society for Astronomical Sciences 25th Annual Symposium on Telescope Science. Held May 23–25. 25: 47. Bibcode:2006SASS...25...47W.
- Aydi, E.; Buckley, D. A. H.; Chomiuk, L.; et al. (2020-07-16). "SALT spectroscopic classification of MGAB-V207 as a classical nova". The Astronomer's Telegram. 13867: 1. Bibcode:2020ATel13867....1A.
- Kilkenny, D.; et al. (2015). "The Edinburgh-Cape Blue Object Survey - IV. Zone 3: Galactic latitudes -40° > b > -50°". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 1 (2): 1879. Bibcode:2015MNRAS.453.1879K. doi:10.1093/mnras/stv1771.
- Bailer-Jones, C. A. L.; et al. (2018). "Estimating Distance from Parallaxes. IV. Distances to 1.33 Billion Stars in Gaia Data Release 2". The Astronomical Journal. 156 (2): 58. arXiv:1804.10121. Bibcode:2018AJ....156...58B. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/aacb21. S2CID 119289017.
- "VSX : Detail for N Ret 2020". International Variable Star Index.
- Murawski, G. (2019). "The discovery of eleven nova-like VY Scl type stars" (PDF). Polskiego Towarzystwa Miłośników Astronomii.
- "CBET 4811: 20200715 : APPARENT NOVA IN RETICULUM (LIMITED ACCESS)". Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams. IAU. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
- Carr, A.; Said, K.; Davis, T. M.; et al. (2020-07-18). "WiFeS follow-up observations of the naked-eye nova associated to MGAB-V207". The Astronomer's Telegram. Bibcode:2020ATel13874....1A.
- "CBET 4812: 20200716 : NOVA RETICULI 2020 (LIMITED ACCESS)". Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams. IAU. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
- "Recent Nova Reticuli 2020 observations in AAVSO". AAVSO.
- Li, K.; Kong, A.; Aydi, E.; et al. (2020-07-16). "Fermi-LAT detection of the naked-eye classical nova MGAB-V207". The Astronomer's Telegram. Bibcode:2020ATel13868....1A.
External links
- VY Sculptoris type discovery details, July 15, 2020
- Nova Reticuli 2020 bursts into the southern skies - Astronomy.com, July 17, 2020
- Bright Nova Reticuli 2020 - blog by Ernesto Guido, July 17, 2020