Darnley, MJ (2017) M31N 2008-12a - The Remarkable Recurrent Nova in M31. In: Proceedings of the 20th European Workshop on White Dwarfs . (20th European Workshop on White Dwarfs (EuroWD16), 25-29th July 2016, Warwick, UK).

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Abstract

M31N 2008-12a is a remarkable recurrent nova within the Andromeda Galaxy. With eleven eruptions now identified, including eight in the past eight years, the system exhibits a recurrence period of one year, and possibly just six months. This short inter eruption period is driven by the combination of a high mass white dwarf ($1.38\,\mathrm{M}_\odot$) and high mass accretion rate ($\sim1.6\times10^{-7}\,\mathrm{M}_\odot\,\mathrm{yr}^{-1}$). Such a high accretion rate appears to be provided by the stellar wind of a red giant companion. Deep H$\alpha$ observations have revealed the presence of a vastly extended nebula around the system, which could be the `super-remnant' of many thousands of past eruptions. With a prediction of the white dwarf reaching the Chandrasekhar mass in less than a mega-year, M31N 2008-12a has become the leading pre-explosion type Ia supernova candidate. The 2016 eruption - to be the twelfth detected eruption - is expected imminently, and a vast array of follow-up observations are already planned.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	astro-ph.SR; astro-ph.SR; astro-ph.HE
Subjects:	Q Science > QB Astronomy Q Science > QC Physics
Divisions:	Astrophysics Research Institute
Publisher:	ASTRONOMICAL SOC PACIFIC
Related URLs:	http://arxiv.org/abs/1611.01301v1
Date Deposited:	11 Nov 2016 12:31
Last Modified:	13 Apr 2022 15:14
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/4776

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