[175.13] FUSE Observations Reveal the Nature of the Stellar Jets in the Symbiotic Binary R Aqr

AAS 207th Meeting, 8-12 January 2006
Session 175 Recent Discoveries in the Far UV
Poster, Thursday, 9:20am-4:00pm, January 12, 2006, Exhibit Hall

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[175.13] FUSE Observations Reveal the Nature of the Stellar Jets in the Symbiotic Binary R Aqr

J. Nichols, E. Kellogg (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)

FUSE observations of both the outer NE jet and the outer SW jet associated with R Aqr show strong, double-peaked O VI emission lines. The O VI profiles are consistent with bow shock models and provide a measurement of the shock velocity, inclination angle of the bow shock axis with the plane of the sky, and direction of the shock. The question of whether the jets are cloudlet model or bullet model bow shocks is resolved with the FUSE data, thus placing strong contraints on the formation mechanism of the jets. We discuss the variability of the line emission from the jets that has been seen in other wavelengths and relate the variability to the determined bow shock model. This work was supported by NASA grant NNG05GD77G.

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