| Type |
Conference Paper |
| Names |
Marina Orio, T. Nelson, R. K. Honeycutt |
| Proceedings Title |
Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society |
| Conference Name |
American Astronomical Society AAS Meeting #214, #410.03 |
| Volume |
41 |
| Pages |
675 |
| Date |
May 1, 2009 |
| URL |
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009AAS...21441003O |
| Library Catalog |
NASA ADS |
| Abstract |
The ODI on WIYN will allow a revolution in studies of extragalactic
novae and X-ray binaries. We plan to monitor M31 and M33 twice a month
using both narrow and broad band filters. With 6 pointings of M33 we
will reach even very peripheral regions of the galaxy. H(alpha) imaging
will allow us to follow the light curves of classical and recurrent
novae as long as they fall by 6-7 magnitudes. We have started a
successful program of spectroscopic monitoring of M31 novae at the TNG
telescope and we foresee that the couplig of long term light curves and
spectra will allow us to classify the novae and obtain accurate nova
rates in different regions of the galaxy, answering questions like: - Is
the nova rate per unit of luminous stellar mass really quite different
in M31, in M33 and the Galaxy? - Are novae mainly associated with the
bulge and old populations, or is there a younger component like seems to
be present in the Magellanic Clouds?
Another exciting program concerns X-ray binaries. By now, close to a
thousand X-ray sources have been observed in M31, and more than 400 in
M33. With a combination of narrow and broad band images we will be able
to identify possible optical counterparts of many of these sources and
follow their variability at optical wavelenghts, to put together the
puzzle necessary for source identification and classification. We will
show how this is particularly interesting for some supersoft X-ray
sources that seem to be associated with high mass X-ray binaries,
explaining the star formation rate depending component in type Ia
supernovae. |