Cataclysmic Variables - Stars That Go Boom

Cataclysmic Variables are a broad class of variables that undergo violent nuclear outbursts. These events can quickly drive their brightness up many magnitudes. They include the familiar novae and supernovae, but also include other varietals like dwarf novae, recurrent novae, nova-like variables, polars, intermediate polars and all kinds of variable stars that light off with little or no warning. Most cataclysmic variables are binary star systems where a white dwarf siphons mass from the companion. In the presentation, we’ll discuss how these binary systems that start off as a pair of normal main sequence stars eventually go so horribly awry. We’ll also talk about the work amateur astronomers have done for the AAVSO and for pro-am collaborations like the Center for Backyard Astrophysics that have led to significant advances in the understanding of cataclysmic variables.Speaker Bio – Walt Cooney is a retired chemical engineer who has been an avid amateur astronomer since 4th grade when he did a report on the constellation Orion. He was raised in Titusville, Florida where his dad was an engineer for NASA. He has a B.S.Ch.E from the University of Florida and an M.S. in chemical engineering from Cornell. He is the author or coauthor of 45 papers in astronomical journals, and discoverer of 64 asteroids and 59 variable stars including 3 in Columbus. Asteroid (35365) Cooney was kindly named after Walt by Dr. Petr Pravec of the Ondrejov Observatory in the Czech Republic.

[awsomeabacus]

1:12:45 I understand why novae recur, but I have the opposite question: Why do classical novae not recur? What stops the accretion disk from forming and going nova again?

[chiragraju]

I am going to present the topic on Cataclysmic variable stars for my project proposal in my astrophysics course.. Wish me luck!!!

[awsomeabacus]

How do polars outburst? Since they don't have an accretion disk, it must be the white dwarf itself that goes nova. Does it reach the Chandresakar limit?