CP Lacertae (also known as Nova Lacertae 1936 or ''CP Lac'') was a nova, which lit up on June 18, 1936 in the constellation

Lacerta Lacerta is one of the 88 modern constellations defined by the International Astronomical Union. Its name is Latin for lizard. A small, faint constellation, it was defined in 1687 by the astronomer Johannes Hevelius. Its brightest stars form a "W" ...

. It was discovered independently by several observers including

Leslie Peltier Leslie Copus Peltier (January 2, 1900 – May 10, 1980) was an American amateur astronomer and discoverer of several comets and novae, including Nova Herculis 1963. He was once described as "the world's greatest non-professional astronomer" by ...

in the US, E. Loreta in Italy, and Kazuaki Gomi, a Japanese barber who discovered the nova during the 19 June 1936 total solar eclipse. The nova reached a peak brightness of 2.1

mag Mag, MAG or mags may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''MAG'' (video game), 2010 * ''Mag'' (Slovenian magazine), 1995–2010 * '' The Mag'', a British music magazine Businesses and organisations * MacKenzie Art Gallery, in Regina, Sask ...

, making it readily visible to the naked eye during night time. Following the outbreak, the brightness of CP Lacertae decreased thereafter, falling 3 magnitudes after nine days. It is classified as a very fast nova, with a smooth light curve. Located at an estimated distance of , this is a close binary system with a degenerate

white dwarf A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes ...

primary in orbit with a cool red dwarf secondary over a

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of 0.145143 days. Matter from the red dwarf is being drawn off onto an accretion disk orbiting the white dwarf. The mean brightness of the system varies with an amplitude of 0.5 magnitude from day to day. The observational data shows a general period of 0.037 days, which may be related to the rotation period of the white dwarf component. Unlike many novae, CP Lacertae does not have a shell visible as a nebula with optical telescopes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:CP Lacertae Novae Lacerta 1936 in science Lacertae, CP