Physics Commons^™

Hot Gas And The Origin Of The Nebular Continuum In Novae, Pedro Saizar, Gary J. Ferland

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

A featureless blue continuum (with constant f_ν) is a defining feature of declining classical novae. The fact that f_ν is constant into the infrared, and the absence of a Balmer jump, suggests that this continuum originates in hot tenous gas. The electron temperature and density of the hot gas phase of classical nova QU Vul 1984 are estimated from ground-based optical and IUE ultraviolet observations. This region has a temperature of 10⁵ - 10⁶, and a density in the range of 2 x 10⁴ to 3 x 10⁵cm^-3. …