Hubble Space Telescope STIS Spectroscopy of Nova T Aurigae 1891

Abstract

T Aurigae is an eclipsing old nova which exploded in 1891. At a Gaia EDR3 distance of 815-871 pc, it is a relatively nearby old nova. Through ultraviolet spectral modeling and using the new precise Gaia distance, we find that the HST/STIS spectrum of T Aurigae is consistent with an accretion disk with a mass transfer rate $\dot{M}$ of the order of $10^{-8}{M}_{\odot }$/yr, for a white dwarf mass of $M_{\mathrm{wd}}\approx 0.7\pm 0.2M_{\odot }$, an inclination of $i\sim 60^{\circ }$, and a Gaia distance of of $840_{-25}^{+31}$~pc. The sharp absorption lines of metals cannot form in the disk and are likely forming in material above the disk (e.g. due stream disk overflow), in circumbinary material, and/or in material associated with the ejected shell from the 1891 nova explosion. The saturated hydrogen Ly$\alpha$ absorption feature is attributed to a large interstellar medium hydrogen column density of the order of $10^{21}$cm${}^{-2}$ towards T Aur, as corroborated by the value of its reddening $E(B-V)=0.42\pm 0.08$.

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