TY - JOUR
T1 - Unraveling the Infrared Transient VVV-WIT-06
T2 - The Case for the Origin as a Classical Nova
AU - Banerjee, D. P.K.
AU - Hsiao, E. Y.
AU - Diamond, T.
AU - Galbany, L.
AU - Morrell, N.
AU - Minniti, D.
AU - Kuncarayakti, H.
AU - Mattila, S.
AU - Harmanen, J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..
PY - 2018/11/10
Y1 - 2018/11/10
N2 - The enigmatic near-infrared transient VVV-WIT-06 underwent a large-amplitude eruption of unclear origin in 2013 July. Based on its light curve properties and late-time post-outburst spectra, various possibilities have been proposed in the literature for the origin of the object, namely a Type I supernova, a classical nova (CN), or a violent stellar merger event. We show that, of these possibilities, an origin in a CN outburst convincingly explains the observed properties of VVV-WIT-06. We estimate that the absolute K-band magnitude of the nova at maximum was M k = -8.2 ±0.5, its distance d = 13.35 ±2.18 kpc, and the extinction A v = 15.0 ±0.55 mag.
AB - The enigmatic near-infrared transient VVV-WIT-06 underwent a large-amplitude eruption of unclear origin in 2013 July. Based on its light curve properties and late-time post-outburst spectra, various possibilities have been proposed in the literature for the origin of the object, namely a Type I supernova, a classical nova (CN), or a violent stellar merger event. We show that, of these possibilities, an origin in a CN outburst convincingly explains the observed properties of VVV-WIT-06. We estimate that the absolute K-band magnitude of the nova at maximum was M k = -8.2 ±0.5, its distance d = 13.35 ±2.18 kpc, and the extinction A v = 15.0 ±0.55 mag.
KW - infrared: stars
KW - line: identification
KW - novae, cataclysmic variables
KW - stars: individual (VVV-WIT-06)
KW - techniques: spectroscopic
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85056726350
U2 - 10.3847/1538-4357/aae5d3
DO - 10.3847/1538-4357/aae5d3
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85056726350
SN - 0004-637X
VL - 867
JO - Astrophysical Journal
JF - Astrophysical Journal
IS - 2
M1 - 99
ER -