SAASST News

Saturday, 11 June 2022 15:42

SAASST Observations of U Scorpii

Credit – Mr. Mohamed Talafha (June 08, 2022) Credit – Mr. Mohamed Talafha (June 08, 2022)

This is a picture of the U Scorpii (U Sco), a recurrent nova system in the constellation of Scorpius. Mr. Mohamed Talafha took the picture at the SAASST Sharjah Optical Observatory on June 08, 2022. U Scorpii is known to be one of the ten known recurrent novae in our own Milky Way galaxy. The American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) is currently running an observing campaign on U Sco, and worldwide observers are encouraged to observe this star as often as possible.

Visual and instrumental observations are important, and "fainter-than" observations are just as critical as positive observations.

The recurrent novae are like classical novae, consisting of a white dwarf primary star accreting mass from a stellar secondary. Accreted material builds up on the white dwarf and eventually reaches the temperature and pressure required for thermonuclear ignition. When it does, the shell of accreted material undergoes thermonuclear fusion, rapidly increasing the system's brightness and ejecting this shell of material off the surface of the white dwarf.