Other
Scientific paper
Jul 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001hst..prop.9287k&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #9287
Other
Hst Proposal Id #9287
Scientific paper
A few days ago, amateur astronomers have established that the cataclysmic variable star WZ Sge has gone into outburst, 23 years after the last outburst event and about 10 years earlier than expected. The system rose from V=15 to V=8 in the course of a day and is expected to remain in outburst for about 1-2 months. WZ Sge is arguably the most extreme and interesting cataclysmic variable {CV} in the sky. Whereas other dwarf-nova-type CVs undergo 3-5 magnitude eruptions every few weeks or months, WZ Sge's outbursts have an amplitude of 7-8 magnitudes and recur on a time-scale of roughly 33 years. In addition, WZ Sge's 82 minute orbital period is one of the shortest of any CV, its mass ratio of M2/M1 simeq 0.03 is one of the lowest and its time-averaged absolute magnitude one of the faintest {M_V simeq 11.5}. All of these facts imply that WZ Sge is a "death star" {Patterson 1998}, i.e. a highly evolved cataclysmic binary in which gigayears of mass transfer have converted an initially main sequence secondary star to a 0.02 solar mass brown dwarf. We propose to obtain time-resolved HST/STIS observations of WZ SGE, to be scheduled {near-}simultaneously with the already approved Chandra outburst.
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