V1369 Centauri also known as Nova Centauri 2013 was a bright nova in the constellation

Centaurus Centaurus is a bright constellation in the southern sky. One of the largest constellations, Centaurus was included among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. ...

that occurred in 2013. It was discovered on December 2, 2013 by amateur astronomer John in Australia with a

magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (mathematics), the relative size of an object *Norm (mathematics), a term for the size or length of a vector *Order of ...

of 5.5. On December 14, 2013 it peaked at about magnitude 3.3, making it the brightest nova so far of this millennium. Nova Centauri 2013 was observed emitting gamma-rays between 7–10 December 2013 by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The nova continued to brighten in gamma-rays and the peak coincided with the second optical maximum on 11 December 2013. The Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission detected X-ray emission from Nova Centauri 2013 on 18 and 25 February 2014 and 8 March 2014.Astronomer's Telegram #5966 V1369CenLocation

In July 2015 it was announced that

lithium Lithium (from el, λίθος, lithos, lit=stone) is a chemical element with the symbol Li and atomic number 3. It is a soft, silvery-white alkali metal. Under standard conditions, it is the least dense metal and the least dense solid ...

has been detected in material ejected from Nova Centauri 2013. This is the first time lithium has been detected in a nova system. The amount detected was less than a billionth of the mass of the

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

. This finding is significant because it supports a theory that the extra lithium found in

Population I stars During 1944, Walter Baade categorized groups of stars within the Milky Way into stellar populations. In the abstract of the article by Baade, he recognizes that Jan Oort originally conceived this type of classification in 1926: Baade noticed th ...

(compared to Population II stars) comes from novae.

References

Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams – Transient Object Followup Reports – PNV J13544700-5909080

External links

Naked-Eye Nova in Centaurus

Light Curve Generator: AAVSO Data for Nova CEN 2013International Variable Star Index
Centauri 2013, Nova PNV J13544700-5909080 Centauri, V1369 20131202 {{var-star-stub

See also

References

External links