Jan-Uwe Ness,

The 6th outburst of the recurrent nova

RS Oph in X-rays

Novae in X-rays:

- bright at time of explosion – never observed (unpredictable and short)

- absorbed by surrounding shell – white dwarf dark in X-rays (for a few months)

but shock of expanding material with atmosphere of companion

produces hard X-rays

- clearing of outer shell – view ongoing nuclear burning

(continuum emission with spectrum of a Super-Soft-Source; SSS)

- nebular phase – radiative cooling (emission lines)

Jan-Uwe Ness at

The 6th outburst of the recurrent nova

RS Oph in X-rays

Recorded Outbursts of RS Oph:

1898, 1933, 1958, 1967, 1985, 2006

Osborne et al. (2006)

shock phase

SSS phase

nebular phase

Continuing Observations with Swift:

Swift light curve compared with EXOSAT (1985)

shock phase

SSS phase

nebular phase

XMM Spectra during shock phase

X-ray light curves

X-ray spectra in time

=5000 lyrs

Jan-Uwe Ness at

The 6th outburst of the recurrent nova

RS Oph in X-rays

2005-02-05T12:02:02