Physics
Scientific paper
Jul 1996
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996hst..prop.6461s&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #6461
Physics
Hst Proposal Id #6461 Interstellar Medium
Scientific paper
The recurrent nova T Pyxidis is one of only 20 novae with known shells, and the only recurrent nova with clearly resolved circumstellar matter. A unique and once-only opportunity will exist during T Pyxidis' next eruption {now overdue} to determine: 1} The uniformity and isotropy of material {both dust and different chemical elements} ejected in previous eruptions, and 2} The smallest structures formed in nova eruptions. We propose to use WFPC2 to image T Pyx after it erupts to search for fluorescence and reflection light echoes from, and small-scale structure in, the nova circumstellar gas and dust ejecta. Only two novae are presently known to have a highly structured shell that can be defined as ``very'' clumpy. These novae are GK Per {known from the ground} and T Pyx {HST cycle 4 WFPC2 images}. It's unclear if this structure is common to all nova shells or, if it is, how the structure is created. Though T Pyx is ``overdue'' it may take several years before it goes off a gain. We therefore propose to use the TOO time, if allocated, to follow the eruption of the next bright Galactic nova with WFPC2 {if T Pyx does not erupt} to determine how quickly the ejecta of a nova becomes clumpy.
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