Spectroscopic view on the outburst activity of the symbiotic binary AG Draconis

Variations of the emission lines in the spectrum of the yellow symbiotic star AG Draconis (AG Dra) have been studied for over 14 yr (1997–2011), using more than 500 spectra obtained with the 1.5-m telescope at Tartu Observatory, Estonia. The time interval covered includes the major (cool) outburst o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 2016-03, Vol.456 (3), p.2558-2565
Main Authors: Leedjärv, L., Gális, R., Hric, L., Merc, J., Burmeister, M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Emission
Emission analysis
Nova
Outbursts
Similarity
Space telescopes
Spectral emissivity
Star & galaxy formation
Supernovae
Symbiotic stars
Telescopes
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Summary:Variations of the emission lines in the spectrum of the yellow symbiotic star AG Draconis (AG Dra) have been studied for over 14 yr (1997–2011), using more than 500 spectra obtained with the 1.5-m telescope at Tartu Observatory, Estonia. The time interval covered includes the major (cool) outburst of AG Dra that started in 2006. The main findings can be summarized as follows. (i) The cool and hot outbursts of AG Dra can be distinguished from the variations of optical emission lines. (ii) The Raman scattered emission line of O vi at λ6825 almost disappeared during the cool outburst. (iii) The lower excitation emission lines did not change significantly during the cool outburst, but they do vary in hot outbursts and also follow orbital motion. (iv) The similarity of variations in AG Dra to those in the prototypical symbiotic star Z Andromedae allows us to suggest that a combination nova model proposed for the latter object might also be responsible for the outburst behaviour of AG Dra.
ISSN:0035-8711
1365-2966
DOI:10.1093/mnras/stv2807