Hubble Space Telescope Imaging of the Expanding Nebular Remnant of the 2006 Outburst of RS Ophiuchi

TL;DR

This paper presents Hubble Space Telescope images of the expanding nebular remnant of RS Ophiuchi's 2006 outburst, revealing bipolar morphology and measuring expansion rates, enhancing understanding of nova remnant evolution.

Contribution

First HST imaging of RS Ophiuchi's remnant at multiple epochs, providing detailed morphology and expansion measurements of the nova remnant.

Findings

Remnant shows extended emission consistent with earlier radio observations.

Maximum expansion rate of approximately 3200 km/s in the plane of the sky.

Remnant has a bipolar morphology aligned with the binary system.

Abstract

We report {\it Hubble Space Telescope} imaging obtained 155 days and 449 days after the 2006 outburst of RS Ophiuchi. Both epochs show evidence of extended emission, consistent with that seen in earlier radio observations, and a maximum expansion rate of $3200\pm300$ km s$^{-1}$ (in the plane of the sky). The extended structure is consistent with the remnant having a bipolar morphology with an inclination similar to that determined for the binary.