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Credit & Copyright: Jürg Alean
Explanation:
When a new star
appeared in the constellation Delphinus late last week,
astronomers
found its spectrum hinted at the apparition's true nature.
Now known as Nova Delphini, its
visible light spectrum near
maximum
brightness
is centered in this image of the nearby
star field captured with
prism and
telescope on the night of August 16/17 at the
Sternwarte Bülach,
Switzerland.
Strong absorption lines due to hydrogen atoms
are seen as the darkest bands in the nova's spectrum, but
the strong absorption lines are bordered along their redward edge by bright
bands of emission.
That pattern is the
spectral signature
of material blasted from
a catalysmic binary system known as
a classical nova.
Other stars in field are fainter, identified by their
Hipparcus
catalog numbers, brightness in
magnitudes, and
spectral types.
By chance, the faint emission line from
planetary nebula NGC 6905
was also included, indicated at the lower right.
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: nova - spectrum
Publications with words: nova - spectrum
See also: