[vsnet-chat 3933] Re: Nova Pup 2000 astrometry

[Brian Skiff <bas@lowell.edu>]

     Clearly we're at the point where a spectrum is required for this
object.  Since it has been essentially steady at mag. 9.0 for six weeks,
I doubt this a slow nova.  A clue (faint perhaps) is Arne's photometry,
which I note shows B-V = 0.56, but V-I = 1.23, i.e. the far-red color is
way out of line for an ordinary single star at the measured B-V.  Two-thirds
of the V-I redness comes just from R-I, so strong H-alpha is probably not
present (V-R is also "too red" for the B-V, so there could be some line
emission).  One reasonable possibility is a relatively luminous red
component and a fainter blue component.  Could this be some sort of outburst/
eruption in a symbiotic or VV Cep-type system?  The ordinary 2MASS JHK
colors suggest the quiescent state is dominated by the bluer component
(if this scenario is correct), whereas in a VV Cep system the red star is
the more luminous.  If only the red star erupted I would have expected the
B-V color to increase too, but that doesn't seem to be the case here.
Could be something new or pathological (shrug) ...back to my first sentence!

\Brian

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