V838 MONOCEROTIS - GSC 4822.39

V838 Mon is an unique object, probably a prototype of new class star erupting into a cool supergiant. The star outburst was first recognized as a possible nova by Nicholas J. Brown, Quinns Rocks, W. Australia, (IAU Circular 7785) on January 6.6 UT at about magnitude 10 on a T-Max 400 film. The principal maximum of brightness (V=6.6) occurred on February 6. A less intense outburst occurred in March 2002. Prior to outburst V838 Mon was a stable hot blue star of B=15.8. The star has evolved now like a very red M10III star (see J. Wisniewski, ApJ, 588, 486 (2003)). Localization of the object is (2000.0): RA = 7h04m04.85s - DEC = -03°50'50.24"

This page present a spectroscopic observation run of V838 Mon. The period cover with some details the February and March 2002 outburst. The observation are made from my private observatory in Castanet-Tolosan (near Toulouse, South of France). Additional observations with the Pic du Midi observatory 24-inch telescope (A. Rondi, S. Rondi, V. Desnoux, C. Buil) show the spectacular red evolution of the star on April 2003. For your opinion, these results are characteristics of today amateur possibility with modest aperture telescopes but with sensitive receptors and optimized low-cost spectrograph.

      Code L106
      Telescope: Takahashi FSQ-106  - 4 inch aperture refractor - F/D=5
      Spectrograph: dispersion of 2.81 A/pixel - spectral range from 4580 to 6650 A -  R=800 @ 6563 A
      CCD: Audine KAF-401E CCD camera - 9x9 microns pixel
      Observatory: Castanet Tolosan (France) - IAU959
      Observer: C. Buil 

      Code T212:
      Telescope: Takahashi CN-212 - 8 inch aperture telescope - F/D=3.3
      Spectrograph: dispersion of 0.3805 A/pixel - spectral range from 6400 to 6800 A - R=7000 @ 6563 A
      Audine KAF-1602E CCD camera - 9x9 microns pixel
      Observatory: Castanet Tolosan (France) - IAU959
      Observer: C. Buil

      Code T600:
      Telescope: 24-inch telescope - F/D=3.5
      Spectrograph: dispersion of 5.80 A/pixel - spectral range from 6500 to 9900 A - R=540 @ 6563 A (construc. A. & S. Rondi)
      CCD: Audine KAF-1602E CCD camera - 18x18 microns pixel (bin. 2x2)
      Observatory: Pic du Midi Observatory (France)
      Observers: A. Rondi, S. Rondi, V. Desnoux, C. Buil

Notes: All the data are corrected for the instrumental responses. Observation where reduced with Iris (developed by C. Buil) and VisualSpec (developed by V. Desnoux) using standard techniques. You can download ASCII file format data for all the date.

Download 230403.DAT - The continuum is normalized at value 1 at wavelength 7000 angstroms

  Animation 1

  Animation 2