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Linking classical to dwarf novae

Linking classical to dwarf novae

In a recent Nature (Shara et al. 2017, Nature, 548, 558) letter, the authors found that a current dwarf nova is actually the Nova Scorpii AD 1437, recorded by Korean astronomers at that time.

What is interesting is that they managed to trace both the dwarf nova’s position and the center of the observed gas shell back to their positions in 1437. Adding the information derived from the Korean records (and that is interesting to read) they show that the Nova Scorpii 1437 is the source of the current shell and that the dwarf nova in the region was the Nova. This shows that a classical nova, whose eruptions are due to the fusion and explosion of hydrogen accreted around its surface, can display dwarf nova behavior, i.e. eruptions due to instabilities in the accretion disk, providing a link between the two types of novae.

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