Cosmoview Episode 97: Gemini South Observes Hottest Nova Erupting With Surprising Chemical Signatures

Using the Gemini South telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, funded in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation and operated by NSF NOIRLab, and the Carnegie Institution’s Magellan Baade Telescope, a team of astronomers have for the first time observed a recurrent nova outside of the Milky Way in the near-infrared wavelength range. This nova, named LMC 1968-12a, is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud — a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. It erupts about every four years, which is the third-shortest recurrence timescale of any nova. The team estimates that, during the nova’s early post-explosion phase, the temperature of the expelled gas reached 3 million degrees Celsius (5.4 million degrees Fahrenheit), making it one of the hottest nova ever recorded.