Nova light curves from the Solar Mass Ejection Imager (SMEI) - II. The extended catalog

TL;DR

This paper presents an extended catalog of nova light curves observed by SMEI, providing detailed data on eruption peaks, decline times, and potential pre-maximum halts, enhancing understanding of nova behaviors.

Contribution

It introduces an extended SMEI nova light curve catalog with detailed observations, including potential pre-maximum halts and low amplitude variations, improving data availability for nova studies.

Findings

Detection of pre-maximum halts in two nova light curves

High cadence enabled detection of low amplitude variations

Light curves contain more data around key eruption phases

Abstract

We present the results from observing nine Galactic novae in eruption with the Solar Mass Ejection Imager (SMEI) between 2004 and 2009. While many of these novae reached peak magnitudes that were either at or approaching the detection limits of SMEI, we were still able to produce light curves that in many cases contained more data at and around the initial rise, peak, and decline than those found in other variable star catalogs. For each nova, we obtained a peak time, maximum magnitude, and for several an estimate of the decline time (t2). Interestingly, although of lower quality than those found in Hounsell et al. (2010a), two of the light curves may indicate the presence of a pre-maximum halt. In addition the high cadence of the SMEI instrument has allowed the detection of low amplitude variations in at least one of the nova light curves.