J/ApJ/780/L25 1898-2013 BV and visual photometry for V603 Aql (Johnson+, 2014)
Nova Aquilae 1918 (V603 Aql) faded by 0.44 mag per century from 1938 to 2013.
Johnson C.B., Schaefer B.E., Kroll P., Henden A.A.
<Astrophys. J., 780, L25 (2014)>
=2014ApJ...780L..25J 2014ApJ...780L..25J (SIMBAD/NED BibCode)
ADC_Keywords: Novae ; Photometry
Keywords: novae, cataclysmic variables
Abstract:
We present the light curve of the old nova V603 Aql (Nova Aql 1918)
from 1898-1918 and 1934-2013 using 22721 archival magnitudes. All of
our magnitudes are either in, or accurately transformed into, the
Johnson B and V magnitude systems. This is vital because offsets in
old sequences and the visual-to-V transformation can cause errors of
0.1-1.0mag if not corrected. Our V603 Aql light curve is the first
time that this has been done for any nova. Our goal was to see the
evolution of the mass accretion rate on a century timescale, and to
test the long-standing prediction of the Hibernation model that old
novae should be fading significantly in the century after their
eruption is over. The 1918 nova eruption was completely finished by
1938 when the nova decline stopped, and when the star had faded to
fainter than its pre-nova brightness of B=11.43±0.03mag. We find
that the nova light from 1938 to 2013 was significantly fading, with
this being seen consistently in three independent data sets (the
Sonneberg plates in B, the American Association of Variable Star
Observers (AAVSO) V light curve, and the non-AAVSO V light curve). We
find that V603 Aql has been declining in brightness at an average rate
of 0.44±0.04mag per century since 1938. This work provides
remarkable confirmation of an important prediction of the Hibernation
model.
Description:
We collected 22721 Johnson B, V, and visual magnitudes into Table1. We
have 50 pre-eruption B magnitudes from the archival plates at the
Harvard College Observatory (1898-1918), 538 post-eruption B
magnitudes from the Sonneberg archival plates (1928-2004), 15 B
magnitudes from the AAVSO (2010-2012), 2 B magnitudes from AFOEV
(2012), 18980 visual magnitudes from the AAVSO (1934-2013), 61 visual
magnitudes made by Steavenson between 1928 and 1953
(1928MNRAS..88..615S 1928MNRAS..88..615S, 1934MNRAS..94..765S 1934MNRAS..94..765S, 1935MNRAS..95..639S 1935MNRAS..95..639S,
1936MNRAS..96..698S 1936MNRAS..96..698S, 1938MNRAS..98..673S 1938MNRAS..98..673S, 1939MNRAS..99..697S 1939MNRAS..99..697S,
1947MNRAS.107..401S 1947MNRAS.107..401S, 1948MNRAS.108..186S 1948MNRAS.108..186S, 1950MNRAS.110..621S 1950MNRAS.110..621S,
1953MNRAS.113..258S 1953MNRAS.113..258S), and 3075 V magnitudes from many literature
sources between 1957 and 2013 (Landolt, 1968PASP...80..481L 1968PASP...80..481L; Landolt,
1973IBVS..822....1L 1973IBVS..822....1L; Bruch, 1980IBVS.1805....1B 1980IBVS.1805....1B; Bruch,
1991IBVS.3567....1B 1991IBVS.3567....1B; Bruch, 1991AcA....41..101B 1991AcA....41..101B; Patterson,
1997PASP..109..468P 1997PASP..109..468P; Sherrington & Jameson, 1983MNRAS.205..265S 1983MNRAS.205..265S;
Walker, 1957IAUS....3...46W 1957IAUS....3...46W; Suleimanov et al., 2004AstL...30..615S 2004AstL...30..615S).
All of our magnitudes from plates and CCDs are already in the Johnson
B and V magnitude systems. All of the visual measures were transformed
to the Johnson V magnitude system.
Objects:
----------------------------------------------------------
RA (ICRS) DE Designation(s)
----------------------------------------------------------
18 48 54.64 +00 35 02.9 V603 Aql = NOVA Aql 1918
----------------------------------------------------------
File Summary:
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FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ReadMe 80 . This file
table1.dat 72 22747 Individual magnitudes
figure1.dat 28 79 Data of the yearly binned light curve for V603 Aql
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See also:
J/AJ/140/34 : Classification of nova light curves (Strope+, 2010)
Byte-by-byte Description of file: table1.dat
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1- 14 F14.6 d JD Julian Date of the observation
16- 18 A3 --- Band Observational band (B, V,or Vis) (1)
20- 26 F7.4 mag mag [-0.1/13] Observed magnitude in Band
28- 72 A45 --- Source Source of the data (2)
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Note (1): We have 50 pre-eruption B magnitudes from Harvard (1898-1918), 538
post-eruption B magnitudes from Sonneberg (1928-2004), 15 B magnitudes from
the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO; 2010-2012),
2 B magnitudes from AFOEV (2012), 18980 visual
magnitudes from the AAVSO (1934-2013), 61 visual magnitudes from Steavenson
(1928MNRAS..88..615S 1928MNRAS..88..615S, 1934MNRAS..94..765S 1934MNRAS..94..765S, 1935MNRAS..95..639S 1935MNRAS..95..639S,
1936MNRAS..96..698S 1936MNRAS..96..698S, 1938MNRAS..98..673S 1938MNRAS..98..673S, 1939MNRAS..99..697S 1939MNRAS..99..697S,
1947MNRAS.107..401S 1947MNRAS.107..401S, 1948MNRAS.108..186S 1948MNRAS.108..186S, 1950MNRAS.110..621S 1950MNRAS.110..621S,
1953MNRAS.113..258S 1953MNRAS.113..258S), and 3075 V magnitudes from many literature sources
from 1957 to 2013 (Landolt, 1968PASP...80..481L 1968PASP...80..481L; Landolt,
1973IBVS..822....1L 1973IBVS..822....1L; Bruch, 1980IBVS.1805....1B 1980IBVS.1805....1B; Bruch,
1991IBVS.3567....1B 1991IBVS.3567....1B; Bruch, 1991AcA....41..101B 1991AcA....41..101B; Patterson,
1997PASP..109..468P 1997PASP..109..468P; Sherrington & Jameson, 1983MNRAS.205..265S 1983MNRAS.205..265S; Walker,
1957IAUS....3...46W 1957IAUS....3...46W; Suleimanov et al., 2004AstL...30..615S 2004AstL...30..615S). All of our
magnitudes from plates and CCDs are already in the Johnson B and V
magnitude systems. All of the visual measures were transformed to the
Johnson V magnitude system. For most magnitudes, the individual error bars
were not measured, so we used typical values of ±0.15 for the Harvard and
Sonneberg plates, ±0.20 for visual observers, and ±0.02 for CCD
measures.
Note (2): The source column contains either the Harvard Plate identifier or the
observer's initials followed by affiliation or a reference.
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: figure1.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 6 F6.1 yr <Year> [1934.5/2012.5] Mean year
8- 12 F5.2 mag <Bmag> [11/12.1]? Mean apparent Johnson B band
magnitude (1)
14- 17 F4.2 mag e_<Bmag> [0/0.2]? The 1σ error in <Bmag>
19- 23 F5.2 mag <Vmag> [11.11/11.93] Mean apparent Johnson V band
magnitude (2)
25- 28 F4.2 mag e_<Vmag> [0.02/0.04] The 1σ error in <Vmag>
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Note (1): Taken primarily from Sonneberg archival plates.
Note (2): Taken primarily from the visual magnitudes reported to the American
Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO). These visual magnitudes
have been correctly transformed into Johnson V-band measures.
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History:
From electronic version of the journal
(End) Prepared by [AAS]; Sylvain Guehenneux [CDS] 09-Nov-2015