XMM observations of the supersoft source Nova LMC 1995

Marina Orio(Turin Astronomical Observatory, Italy and Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin, USA) Jochen Greiner (Astrophysics Institute, Posdam, FRG),

Abstract

Nova LMC 1995 was the only one among 10 recent LMC novae that appeared as a super-soft X-ray source in the post-outburst years. It was observed with the ROSAT PSPC up to 3 years after the outburst. We show new data, obtained with XMM in December 2000, almost 6 years after the optical eruption. Observations of novae as supersoft X-ray sources have been done only a few times. The new results recently obtained with Chandra and XMM are opening up a new perspective on the characteristics of these sources and their relevance as possible type Ia supernova progenitors.

CATEGORY: WHITE DWARF BINARIES AND CATACLYSMIC VARIABLES