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R. J. Rudy, D. K. Lynch, S. Mazuk, C. C. Venturini (The Aerospace Corporation), R. C. Puetter (U. of California, San Diego), R. B. Perry (NASA Langley Research Center)
Near-IR spectrophotometry of the slow nova V2540 Ophiuchi (Nova Oph 2002) from 173 days after discovery reveals a number of previously undetected Fe II emission lines. The majority of these lines appear between 1.6 and 2.1 microns and most, but not all, have upper levels within 60,000 cm-1 of the groundstate. The lines appear to be excited by a combination of collisions and fluorescence by Lyman alpha, the latter stimulating a transition between the metastable a 4D5/2 level at 8391.94 cm-1 and the 4Do5/2 level at 90638.82 cm-1 in a process first pointed out by Johansson & Jordan (1984, MNRAS, 239, 210). Also present are the so-called "one micron Fe II lines" (Rudy et al. 1991, ApJ, 383, 344 and 2000, ApJ, 538, 166), lines that are collisionally excited and are seen in Nova Oph 2002 at a strength greater (relative to the hydrogen lines) than in other source in which they have been reported. The spectrum was obtained using The Aerospace Corporation's Near-Infrared Imaging Spectrograph and Lick Observatory's 3m Shane reflector. The spectrum also shows moderately strong He I at 1.0830 microns, H I lines from the Paschen and Brackett series, and the O I lines at 0.8446 and 1.1287 microns that are excited by Lyman beta in a Bowen fluorescence mechanism.
This work was supported by the Independent Research and Development program of The Aerospace Corporation.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34, #4
© 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.