J/MNRAS/517/6150 Galactic novae distances and properties (Schaefer, 2022)
Comprehensive catalogue of the overall best distances and properties of
402 galactic novae.
Schaefer B.E.
<Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 517, 6150 (2022)>
=2022MNRAS.517.6150S 2022MNRAS.517.6150S (SIMBAD/NED BibCode)
ADC_Keywords: Milky Way ; Galactic plane ; Galactic center ; Stars, variable ;
Stars, distances ; Cross identifications ; Combined data ;
Photometry ; Optical ; Extinction ; Parallaxes, trigonometric ;
Spectral types ; Velocity dispersion ; Magnitudes, absolute
Keywords: novae, cataclysmic variables - stars: variables: general
Abstract:
I derive the overall best distances for all 402 known Galactic novae,
and I collect their many properties. The centrepiece is the 74 novae
with accurate parallaxes from the new Gaia data release. For the
needed priors, I have collected 171 distances based on old methods
(including expansion parallaxes and extinction distances). Further, I
have collected the V-magnitudes at peak and the extinction measures,
so as to produce absolute magnitudes at peak and then derive a crude
distance as a prior. Further, I have recognized that 41 per cent of
the known novae are concentrated in the bulge, with 68 per cent of
these <5.4° from the Galactic Centre, so the 165 bulge novae must
have distances of 8000 ± 750 parsecs. Putting this all together, I
have derived distances to all 402 novae, of which 220 have distances
to an accuracy of better than 30 per cent. I find that the disc novae
have an exponential scale height of 140 ± 10 pc. The average peak
absolute V-magnitude is -7.45, with an RMS scatter of 1.33 mag. These
peak luminosities are significantly correlated with the decline rate
(t3 in days) as MV,peak = -7.6 + 1.5log (t3/30). The huge scatter
about this relation masks the correlation in many smaller data sets,
and makes this relation useless for physical models. The bulge novae
are indistinguishable from the disc novae in all properties, except
that the novae with red giant companion stars have a strong preference
for residing in the bulge population.
Description:
Once we have the idea of making a large catalogue of the best
distances for the Gaia novae, a natural extension is to get the best
distances for all known Galactic novae. For the novae not in Gaia DR3,
all we have is a collection of non-parallax data. For roughly a third
of the novae, the only useful information is the Galactic position.
For the bulge novae, this turns out to give accurate and reliable
distances. For the disc novae, the position alone can provide distance
constraints with the uncertainty of the order of 3 from the central
estimate, and that is adequate for many purposes. So my programme is
extended to provide the best possible distances for all Galactic
novae. The first step of the programme is to construct a complete
census of known Galactic novae for peaks with all times before middle
2022. In the end, I have 402 systems that are confidently Galactic
novae.
Firstly as explained in section 2, we present distance results from
old methods. For all of the old methods, I have a total of 171
distances, of which 29 are lower limits on the distance presented in
table1.dat. Next as in section 3, collected light-curves values of
Vpeak and E(B-V) from literature are combined with the adopted MV,peak
to produce a distance modulus µpeak for all 402 Galactic novae
presented in table3.dat. Next, there is a focus on galactic
distribution of novae as explained in section 4, after analysis with
Θ values, it provides an Bulge/disc population for
ΘGC<20° for 214 novae presented in table4.dat. Hereafter,
i found 215 GaiaDR3 counterparts have their parallaxes and magnitudes
as shown in table5.dat (i.e see section 5).
Finally, using probability distribution P(D) as in equation 5 of
section 6, i compute the best-estimate D values and also fundamental
measured properties such as spectral types, periods, unsual
properties, light curves classes as presented in table6.dat.
File Summary:
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FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
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ReadMe 80 . This file
table1.dat 47 171 Compilation of nova distances from old
computational methods
table3.dat 49 402 Collected Vpeak and E(B-V) from literature and
deduced µpeak for our galactic novae
table4.dat 63 214 Bulge/Disc population identification for
ΘGC<20° sorted by ΘGC
table5.dat 42 215 Gaia parallaxes and magnitudes of Galactic novae
table6.dat 198 402 Distances and fundamental properties of all
known Galactic novae
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See also:
J/MNRAS/505/5978 : Gaia EDR3 view on Galactic globular clusters
(Vasiliev+, 2021)
J/ApJ/935/44 : LAT Gamma-ray spectra of RS Oph 2021 nova (Cheung+, 2022)
J/ApJ/788/164 : Properties of the known Galactic classical novae
(Pagnotta+, 2014)
J/ApJS/187/275 : Photometric histories of recurrent novae (Schaefer, 2010)
J/AJ/140/34 : Classification of nova light curves (Strope+, 2010)
V/123 : Catalog of Cataclysmic Variables (Downes+ 2001-2006)
V/110 : Catalog of Cataclysmic Variables (Downes+ 2001)
I/355 : Gaia DR3 Part 1. Main source (Gaia Collaboration, 2022)
I/337 : Gaia DR1 (Gaia Collaboration, 2016)
B/vsx : AAVSO International Variable Star Index VSX (Watson+, 2006)
B/gcvs : General Catalogue of Variable Stars (Samus+, 2007-2017)
Byte-by-byte Description of file: table1.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 13 A13 --- Nova Nova name as in GCVS catalog (Nova)
15 A1 --- l_D Lower limits flag of D for 29 cases for
extinction method ones
17- 21 I5 pc D The old distance from literature references
(Dold)
23 A1 --- l_DM Lower limits flag of DM for 29 cases for
extinction method ones
25- 29 F5.2 mag DM The associated distance modulus as
5*log(Dold)-5 (µold)
31- 34 F4.2 mag e_DM Assigned 1σ error bar uncertainty of DM
(1σµold)
36- 47 A12 --- Method Computation method for the old distance
(Method) (1)
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Note (1): As explained in section 2, computational methods for 'old' novae
distances and their limits are as follows:
Extinction = Measure the extinction from ISM to calibrate the
extinction as a function of distance along the line of
sight (LOS) as E(B-V) maps for the LOS in our galaxy.
Recently, Ozdonmez et al. (2018MNRAS.476.4162O 2018MNRAS.476.4162O) make
the extinction as a function of distance is calibrated
from the brightness and colour of red clump stars
observed by several deep infrared sky surveys, it
reports 81 reddening distances, including 29 lower
limits on distances. Schaefer (2018MNRAS.481.3033S 2018MNRAS.481.3033S)
found that these reddening distances have a one-sigma
uncertainty of 1.01 mag in the distance moduli, 87
sources in our sample
Expansion = The olden standard for nova distances has been the
expansion parallax. Schaefer (2018MNRAS.481.3033S 2018MNRAS.481.3033S) used
Gaia DR2 parallaxes and found that the real accuracy
has a one-sigma error bar of 0.95 mag in the distance
modulus. Here, I have collected 38 expansion parallax
distances as previously collected in Schaefer
(2018MNRAS.481.3033S 2018MNRAS.481.3033S) and Ozdonmez et al.
(2018MNRAS.476.4162O 2018MNRAS.476.4162O), 38 sources in our sample
Model = Physics method is to model the eruption light curve of
an individual nova, scale the time to a universal law,
so as to derive the peak absolute magnitude, which then
gives the distance modulus. Hachisu and Kato are the
only modellers with this method, from which I have
collected 68 nova distances as reported in
Hachisu & Kato (2021ApJS..253...27H 2021ApJS..253...27H) and references
therein. Schaefer (2018MNRAS.481.3033S 2018MNRAS.481.3033S) found that
these measures have a one-sigma uncertainty of 0.76 mag
in the distance moduli, 32 sources in our sample
Companion = A physics method for nova distances is to get a
blackbody distance to the companion stars. I have
collected seven blackbody distances from Schaefer
(2010ApJS..187..275S 2010ApJS..187..275S, Cat. J/ApJS/187/275), Salazar et
al. (2017MNRAS.469.4116V 2017MNRAS.469.4116V) and Shara et al.
(2017Natur.548..558S 2017Natur.548..558S), 7 sources in our sample
HSTparallax = The HST has been able to measure good parallaxes for
four of the nearest and brightest novae; V603 Aql,
DQ Her, GK Per, and RR Pic (Harrison et al.
2013ApJ...767....7H 2013ApJ...767....7H). Schaefer (2018MNRAS.481.3033S 2018MNRAS.481.3033S)
found these four measures to be substantially poorer
than the quoted error bars, with the average one-sigma
uncertainty being 0.37 mag in the distance moduli, 4
sources in our sample
Light echo = A unique method for measuring a nova distance has been
presented by Sokoloski et al. (2013ApJ...770L..33S 2013ApJ...770L..33S) for
the RN T Pyx, wherein the light echo as reflected by
the previously ejected nova shells is used similarly
to the expansion parallax, 1 source in our sample
in M14 = Two novae are known to appear inside Galactic globular
clusters, with the nova positions being sufficiently
close to the cores so that the membership in the
cluster is not in any doubt. The Nova 1938 Oph is in
M14. The distances to the host globular clusters are
taken from the Gaia EDR3 parallaxes for over 600 member
stars (Vasiliev & Baumgardt 2021MNRAS.505.5978V 2021MNRAS.505.5978V,
Cat. J/MNRAS/505/5978), 1 source in our sample
in M80 = Two novae are known to appear inside Galactic globular
clusters, with the nova positions being sufficiently
close to the cores so that the membership in the
cluster is not in any doubt. The old nova T Sco is in
M80. The distances to the host globular clusters are
taken from the Gaia EDR3 parallaxes for over 600 member
stars (Vasiliev & Baumgardt 2021MNRAS.505.5978V 2021MNRAS.505.5978V,
Cat. J/MNRAS/505/5978), 1 source in our sample
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: table3.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 13 A13 --- Nova Nova name as in GCVS catalog (Nova)
15 A1 --- l_Vpeak Upper limit flag of Vpeak for 121 cases
17- 21 F5.2 mag Vpeak ? Brightest magnitude observed peak in V-band
light curves (Vpeak)
23- 26 F4.2 mag e_Vpeak ? Assigned 1σ error bar uncertainty of
Vpeak (errVpeak)
28- 31 F4.2 mag E(B-V) Extinction color excess B-V magnitude as
AV/3.1 from literatures references (EB-V)
33- 36 F4.2 mag e_E(B-V) Assigned 1σ error bar uncertainty of E
(B-V) (errEB-V)
38 A1 --- l_DMpeak Upper limit flag of DMpeak for 121 cases
40- 44 F5.2 mag DMpeak ? Distance modulus from Vpeak, E(B-V) and
average MV,peak = -7.0 ± 1.4 mag as V_peak
-3.1*E(B-V) - (-7.0) (µpeak)
46- 49 F4.2 mag e_DMpeak ? Casual propaged DMpeak uncertainty from each
terms e_Vpeak, e_E(B-V) and errMV,peak
(errµpeak)
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: table4.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 13 A13 --- Nova Nova name as in GCVS catalog (Nova)
15- 19 F5.2 deg Theta Angular distance of the nova from the galactic
centre (ThetaGC)
21 A1 --- l_DMold Lower limits flag of DM from table1.dat
23- 27 F5.2 mag DMold ? Distance modulus with old methods from
table1.dat (µold)
29- 32 F4.2 mag e_DMold ? 1σ error bar uncertainty of DMold from
table1.dat (1σµold)
34 A1 --- l_DMpeak Upper limit flag of DMpeak from table3.dat
36- 40 F5.2 mag DMpeak Distance modulus with Vpeak estimates from
table3.dat (µpeak)
42- 45 F4.2 mag e_DMpeak Propaged DMpeak uncertainty from table3.dat
(errµpeak)
47- 51 F5.2 mas Plx ? The GaiaDR3 absolute stellar parallax of the
source at the Ep=2016.0 (ω)
53- 56 F4.2 mas e_Plx ? The GaiaDR3 standard error of the stellar
parallax at Ep=2016.0 (errω)
58- 63 A6 --- Pop Population identification (Population) (1)
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Note (1): Bulge or disc population are as follows:
DISC = certainly in disc population, 38 sources in our sample
disc = likely in disc population, 2 sources in our sample
disc? = best ID is disc population, 9 sources in our sample
bulge? = best ID is bulge population, 4 sources in our sample
bulge = highly probable in bulge population, 75 sources in
our sample
BULGE = certainly in bulge population, 86 sources in our sample
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: table5.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 13 A13 --- Nova Nova name as in GCVS catalog (Nova)
15- 19 F5.2 mas Plx ? The GaiaDR3 absolute stellar parallax of the
source at the Ep=2016.0 (ω)
21- 24 F4.2 mas e_Plx ? The GaiaDR3 standard error of the stellar
parallax at Ep=2016.0 (errω)
26- 30 F5.2 mag BPmag ? Integrated BP mean magnitude from GaiaDR3 (b)
32- 36 F5.2 mag Gmag ? G-band mean magnitude from GaiaDR3 (g)
38- 42 F5.2 mag RPmag ? Integrated RP mean magnitude from GaiaDR3 (r)
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: table6.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 13 A13 --- Nova Nova name as in GCVS catalog (Nova)
15 A1 --- l_Year Upper limit flag of Year
17- 18 A2 --- f_Year Flag for 4 "~" approximated Year or for 10 "RN"
recurrent novae with multiple eruptions cases
20- 25 F6.1 yr Year ? Year of the emission peak (Year)
27- 28 A2 --- LC Light curve class according to the divisions of
Strope et al. 2010AJ....140...34S 2010AJ....140...34S, Cat.
J/AJ/140/34 (LC) (1)
30- 34 F5.1 d t3 ? The number of days from the nova peak until
the last time it fades below 3.0 mag under the
emission peak (t3)
36 A1 --- l_Vpeak Upper limit flag of Vpeak for 121 cases from
table3.dat
38- 42 F5.2 mag Vpeak ? Brightest magnitude observed peak in V-band
light curves from table3.dat (Vpeak) (2)
44- 47 F4.2 mag e_Vpeak ? Assigned 1σ error bar uncertainty of
Vpeak from table3.dat (errVpeak)
49- 57 A9 --- SpType Spectral types (Spec) (3)
59- 63 I5 km/s FWHM ? Full-Width-at-Half-Maximum of Hα
emission line around time of peak (FWHM) (4)
65- 74 F10.5 d P ? Orbital period (P) (5)
76- 81 A6 --- Pop Population identification (Population) (6)
83- 86 I4 pc D Best estimate of nova distance from probability
distribution as explained in section 6 (D)
88- 91 I4 pc b_D 16th percentile value of the distance
probability distribution
93- 97 I5 pc B_D 84th percentile value of the distance
probability distribution
99 A1 --- l_VMag Upper limit flag of VMag
101-106 F6.2 mag VMag ? Absolute magnitude at emission peak in the
V-band calculated from the Vpeak, E(B-V) and D
with full extinction correction (MV,peak)
108-111 F4.2 mag e_VMag ? Assigned 1σ error bar uncertainty of
VMag (errMV,peak)
113-117 F5.1 deg GLON Galactic longitude (l)
119-123 F5.1 deg GLAT Galactic latitude (b)
125-129 F5.1 deg Theta Angle between the nova and the galactic centre
(ΘGC)
131-134 F4.2 mag E(B-V) Final value of extinction from Earth to the
nova with V-band absorption A(V) as 3.1*E (B-V)
(EB-V) (7)
136-139 F4.2 mag e_E(B-V) Assigned 1σ error bar uncertainty of E
(B-V) (errEB-V)
141-145 F5.1 d t2 ? The number of days from the nova highest peak
until the last time it fades below the 2.0 mag
of the emission peak (t2)
147-151 F5.2 mas Plx ? The GaiaDR3 absolute stellar parallax of the
source at the Ep=2016.0 as in table5.dat
(ω)
153-156 F4.2 mas e_Plx ? The GaiaDR3 1σ standard error of the
stellar parallax at Ep=2016.0 as in table5.dat
(errω)
158-198 A41 --- Prop Various unusual properties for each nova
(Properties) (8)
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Note (1): Classification letters are as follows:
S = Smooth light curve, 118 sources in our sample
P = Plateau on S light curve, 35 sources in our sample
PP = Not declared class, 3 sources in our sample
O = Oscillations around time of transition, 7 sources in our sample
C = Cusp superposed on S light curve, 6 sources in our sample
D = Dust dip after peak, 39 sources in our sample
J = Jitters short random flares around time of peak, 55 sources in
our sample
F = Flat-topped peak, 5 sources in our sample
All of these classifications are from this work with the original
light curves for this paper.
Note (2): These magnitudes are taken from the analysis of the original light
curves, with the B-magnitudes converted to V-magnitudes, and care
taken to identify when the peak was reliably detected.
Note (3): The spectral class with the main classes being as follows:
Fe II = Spectrum dominated by iron lines for 189 sources in our
sample
He/N = Spectrum dominated by lines of helium and nitrogen
for 40 sources in our sample
He/N? = Maybe He/N for 1 source in our sample
He = Spectrum dominated by lines of helium for 1 source
in our sample
Hybrid = Nova whose spectra transition from Fe II to He/N for 19
sources in our sample
Ne = Neon-novae with high abundance of neon are for 38 sources
in our sample
List of spectral classes and FWHM values is just a large extension
of the list presented in Pagnotta & Schaefer (2014ApJ...788..164P 2014ApJ...788..164P,
Cat. J/ApJ/788/164).
Note (4): FWHM of the Hα line fairly early in the eruption.
These data are often heterogeneous, with the only line width
information coming from other hydrogen lines, or only the FWZI is
quoted, or late in the eruption. In practice, some are for FWZI, HWZI,
Balmer lines, Paschen IR lines and late in eruption.
Note (5): Lists the 156 known orbital periods, P in days, as collected in
Schaefer (2022MNRAS.517.3640S 2022MNRAS.517.3640S), with this including my 49 new
orbital periods.
Note (6): As explained in section 4, these assignments for the nova population
are as follows:
DISC = certainly in disc population, 224 sources in our sample
disk = likely in disc population, 2 sources in our sample
disc? = best ID is disc population, 9 sources in our sample
bulge? = best ID is bulge population, 4 sources in our sample
bulge = highly probable in bulge population, 75 sources in
our sample
BULGE = certainly in bulge population, 86 sources in our sample
GlobC = in globular cluster as part of bulge population, 2 sources
in our sample
Note (7): Many of these are taken from Ozdonmez et al. (2018MNRAS.476.4162O 2018MNRAS.476.4162O), or
from subsequent literature, or from this work of light-curve analyses,
or from prudent estimates based on the upper limits from
Schlafly & Finkbeiner (2011ApJ...737..103S 2011ApJ...737..103S).
Note (8): For 141 sources in our sample, their unusual nova properties are
as follows:
<Gap = Novae below the nova period Gap from 0.071--0.111 days,
5 sources in our sample
InGap = Novae inside the nova Period Gap from 0.071--0.111days,
5 sources in our sample
SubG = Novae with subgiant companion stars,
(roughly 0.6<P<10 days) 29 sources in our sample
RG = Novae with red giant companion stars
(roughly P>10 days),
20 sources in our sample
Ecl = Novae whose light curves display eclipses,
41 sources in our sample
DN = Novae that also display dwarf nova eruptions,
14 sources in our sample
DN? = Novae that also display likely dwarf nova eruptions,
1 source in our sample
PreERise = Novae that display inexplicable pre-eruption rises,
7 sources in our sample
PostEDip = Novae that display post-eruption dips,
1 source in our sample
NonOrbP = Novae that display coherent and stable periods that are
certainly not orbital or rotational (see Schaefer
2022MNRAS.517.3640S 2022MNRAS.517.3640S), 9 sources in our sample
LAmpVar = Novae that display very large amplitude irregular
variability in quiescence, 1 source in our sample
Rebrighten = Novae that display various types of inexplicable
outbursts long after the eruption is ended,
1 source in our sample
V1500 = Novae in the mysterious V1500 Cyg class of stars,
where the post-eruption brightness many decades
after the end of the eruption remains at least 10X
brighter than the pre-eruption level,
10 sources in our sample
InPNeb = V458 Vul is the only nova to be at the centre of an
observed ordinary planetary nebula,
1 source in our sample
gamma = Novae visible with gamma-ray emission by the Fermi
spacecraft, 15 sources in our sample
P-dot = Novae for which I have measured the steady period
change between eruptions, 12 sources in our sample
Delta-P = Novae for which I have measured the change in the
orbital period sharply across a nova eruption,
10 sources in our sample
AP = V1500 Cyg is the only nova known to be an asynchronous
polar, 1 source in our sample
Shell = Novae with observed shells expanding out after an
eruption, 18 sources in our sample
Sh = Novae with observed shells, 11 sources in our sample
in-M14 = Novae inside M14 host globular cluster,
1 source in our sample
in-M80 = Novae inside M18 host globular cluster,
1 source in our sample
IP = Novae with binaries that are either confidently
Intermediate Polars are identified as in the catalogue
of K. Mukai (https://asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/Koji.Mukai/
iphome/catalog/alpha.html), 5 sources in our sample
IP? = Novae with binaries that are likely Intermediate Polars
are identified as in the catalogue of K. Mukai
(https://asd.gsfc.nasa.gov/Koji.Mukai/iphome
/catalog/alpha.html), 11 sources in our sample
Superflare = Startlingly, V2487 Oph suffers the most-energetic and
the most-frequent Superflares out of the many classes
of stars that display bright optical flares caused by
stellar magnetic reconnection, 1 source in our sample
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History:
From electronic version of the journal
(End) Luc Trabelsi [CDS] 29-Oct-2025