T Boötis

T Boötis
Location of T Boötes (circled in red)
Observation data
Epoch J2000.0      Equinox J2000.0 (ICRS)
Constellation Boötes
Right ascension 14h 14m 07.00s[1]
Declination +19° 04′ 00.0″
Apparent magnitude (V) 9.7-<20.4[1]
Characteristics
Variable type N (Nova)[1]
Other designations
AAVSO 1409+19, BD+19 2768[1]
Database references
SIMBADdata

T Boötis is believed to have been a nova. It was observed by only one person, Joseph Baxendell on 9, 11 and 22 April 1860, but has not been seen since.[2] It is located less than half a degree from Arcturus in the constellation Boötes and was at magnitude 9.75 when first seen, and magnitude 12.8 when last seen.[2] Other astronomers, including Friedrich Winnecke, Edward Charles Pickering, Ernst Hartwig and Ernst Zinner looked for a star in this location without success.[3]

Despite being usually referred to as a nova, it had characteristics that set it apart from other novae - an amplitude of at least 7 magnitudes, an unusually rapid decline in brightness and a location unusually far from the Galactic plane.[3] Joseph Ashbrook suggested in 1953 that it may be a recurrent nova which has been observed only once.[4]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d "VSX: Detail for T Boo". The International Variable Star Index. AAVSO. Archived from the original on 28 April 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2015.
  2. ^ a b Baxendell, Joseph (1861). "On the Three New Variable Stars, T Bootis, T. Serpentis, and S Delphini". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 21 (3). Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory: 68. Bibcode:1861MNRAS..21...68B. doi:10.1093/mnras/21.3.68.
  3. ^ a b Burnham, Robert (1978). Burnham's Celestial Handbook Volume 1. Dover. p. 311. ISBN 978-0-486-31902-5.
  4. ^ Ashbrook, Joseph (1953). "Notes on Four Novae". The Astronomical Journal. 58. Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory: 175. Bibcode:1953AJ.....58..175F. doi:10.1086/106846. Archived from the original on 27 May 2024. Retrieved 16 May 2015.