Introducing the Condor Array Telescope: IV. A possible nova super-remnant surrounding the putative recurrent nova KT Eridani

Abstract

Just 10 recurrent novae (RNe) - which erupt repeatedly on timescales shorter than one century - are known in our Galaxy. The most extreme RN known (located in the Andromeda galaxy), M31N 2008-12a, undergoes a nova eruption every year, and is surrounded by a vast nova "super-remnant", 134 pc in extent. Simulations predict that all RNe should be surrounded by similar vast shells, but previous searches have failed to detect them. KT Eri has recently been suggested to be a RN, and we have used the Condor Array Telescope to image its environs through multiple narrowband filters. We report the existence of a large ($\sim$ 50 pc diameter), H$\alpha$-bright shell centered on KT Eri, exactly as predicted. This strongly supports the claim that KT Eri is the 11th Galactic recurrent nova, and only the second nova known to be surrounded by a super-remnant. SALT spectra of the super-remnant demonstrate that its velocity width is consistent with that of M31-2008-12a.

12 pages, 8 figures

References in corpus (16)

• Array Programming with NumPy
• scikit-image: Image processing in Python
• The Astropy Project: Sustaining and Growing a Community-oriented Open-source Project and the Latest Major Release (v5.0) of the Core Package
• Estimating distances from parallaxes. V: Geometric and photogeometric distances to 1.47 billion stars in Gaia Early Data Release 3
• galpy: A Python Library for Galactic Dynamics
• First science with SALT: peering at the accreting polar caps of the eclipsing polar SDSS J015543.40+002807.2
• Vertical structure of a supernova-driven turbulent magnetized ISM
• M31N 2008-12a - the remarkable recurrent nova in M31: Pan-chromatic observations of the 2015 eruption
• Identifying and Quantifying Recurrent Novae Masquerading as Classical Novae
• The luminosity evolution of nova shells -- I. A new analysis of old data
• The Nova KT Eri Is a Recurrent Nova With a Recurrence Time-Scale of 40-50 Years
• No Neon, but Jets in the Remarkable Recurrent Nova M31N 2008-12a? - Hubble Space Telescope Spectroscopy of the 2015 Eruption
• The Origin of the Hot Gas in the Galactic Halo: Testing Galactic Fountain Models' X-ray Emission
• Introducing the Condor Array Telescope. 1. Motivation, Configuration, and Performance
• On the Observability of Recurrent Nova Super-Remnants
• Introducing the Condor Array Telescope. II. Deep imaging observations of the edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 5907 and the NGC 5866 Group: yet another view of the iconic stellar stream

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Hydrodynamic simulations of the recurrent nova T Coronae Borealis: Nucleosynthesis predictions
• Interaction between the ejecta, the accretion disk, and the secondary star in the recurrent nova system U Sco
• Survival of the accretion disk in LMC Recurrent Nova 1968-12a: UV--X-ray case study of the 2024 eruption
• Identification of recurrent novae from parametric modeling of the optical light curve