Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Oct 1997
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1997aj....114.1657d&link_type=abstract
The Astronomical Journal, v. 114, p. 1657.
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
52
White Dwarfs, Stars: Individual: Sakurai, Stars: Atmospheres
Scientific paper
Six-color broadband photometry of Sakurai's Object, a star that underwent a final helium flash in late 1994, has been carried out since 1996 February. The light curves show that Sakurai's Object is continuously cooling while it slowly expands and slightly increases its luminosity. The distance is estimated to be 8 kpc, the interstellar extinction EB-V=0.53, and the luminosity in early 1997 is 10 000Lsun. The high luminosity indicates that the white dwarf is quite massive. With the assumption of a slightly accelerated photospheric expansion a realistic description of the outburst light curve is achieved. Superimposed on the gradual brightness changes are variations with amplitudes of up to 0.1 mag and cycle lengths of 63, 23, 14, and 8 days. In spite of the fact that no persistent periodicities could be detected, pulsational studies show that such cyclic changes can be used to constrain stellar parameters such as mass, luminosity, and chemical abundances.
Benetti Stefano
Duerbeck Hilmar W.
Gautschy Alfred
Kemper Ciska
Liller William
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