V339 Delphini or Nova Delphini 2013 (PNV J20233073+2046041) is a bright nova star in the constellation

Delphinus Delphinus (Pronounced or ) is a small constellation in the Northern Celestial Hemisphere, close to the celestial equator. Its name is the Latin version for the Greek word for dolphin (). It is one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd c ...

. It was discovered on 14 August 2013 by amateur astronomer

Koichi Itagaki This is a list of minor-planet discoverers credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of one or several minor planets (such as near-Earth object, near-Earth and main-belt asteroids, Jupiter trojans and Distant minor planet, distant obj ...

in Japan and confirmed by the Liverpool Telescope on

La Palma La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and officially San Miguel de La Palma, is the most north-westerly island of the Canary Islands, Spain. La Palma has an area of making it the fifth largest of the eight main Canary Islands. The ...

. The nova appeared 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 ...

6.8 when it was discovered and peaked at magnitude 4.3 on 16 August 2013. A nova is produced by the fusion of accumulated material on the white dwarf nova progenitor acquired from its companion star. The nova system is thus a binary star, and a classical nova. The white dwarf is a carbon-oxygen white dwarf, with an estimated mass of 1.04±0.02 . There is not yet a consensus about what the binay's orbital period is; estimates range from 3.15 hours to 6.43 hours. V339DelLocation

V339 Del is the first nova that has been observed to synthesize the element

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 ...

. Production of lithium-7 from the decay of

beryllium Beryllium is a chemical element with the symbol Be and atomic number 4. It is a steel-gray, strong, lightweight and brittle alkaline earth metal. It is a divalent element that occurs naturally only in combination with other elements to form m ...

-7, which was observed in the wind blown out of the nova. This is the first direct evidence of the supply of lithium to the interstellar medium by an astronomical object. Lithium-7 is fragile in the environment at the center of a nova, so being blown out of the environment at the center is necessary for the observation of lithium. The beryllium was produced by the fusion of

helium Helium (from el, ἥλιος, helios, lit=sun) is a chemical element with the symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. ...

-3 with helium-4.

Nucleosynthesis Nucleosynthesis is the process that creates new atomic nuclei from pre-existing nucleons (protons and neutrons) and nuclei. According to current theories, the first nuclei were formed a few minutes after the Big Bang, through nuclear reactions in ...

of lithium is important in the study of chemical abundances in the universe.

References

* Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
PNV J20233073+2046041 Transient Object Followup Reports

External links

* Sky and Telescope

* FastSWF
Nova Delphini Evolution 2013-2014 - Animation (hgg)
Delphini 2013, Nova PNV J20233073+2046041 Delphini, V339 20130814 {{var-star-stub

See also

References

Further reading

External links