New cataclysmic variable discovered by astronomers
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Finding chart for XMM 152737 with North at top and East to the left. The image is from the Digitized Sky Survey (DSS) and the new object is marked with red lines. A scale bar is shown in the lower left. Credit: Ok et al., 2024.
By analyzing the data from ESA's XMM-Newton and Gaia satellites, astronomers from the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) in Germany and elsewhere have detected a new magnetic cataclysmic variable system, most likely of the polar type. The finding was reported in a research paper published March 21 on the pre-print server arXiv.
CVs are binary star systems comprising a white dwarf and a normal star companion. They irregularly increase in brightness by a large factor, then drop back down to a quiescent state. Polars are a subclass of cataclysmic variables distinguished from other CVs by the presence of a very strong magnetic field in their white dwarfs.
