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RS Oph - disappearance of optical flickering after the outburst

ATel #832; R. Zamanov, K. Panov (Institute of Astronomy, Sofia, Bulgaria), M. Boer, H. Le Coroller (Observatoire de Haute-Provence, France)
on 9 Jun 2006; 21:54 UT
Credential Certification: R. K. Zamanov (rkz@astro.bas.bg)

Subjects: Optical, Binary, Cataclysmic Variable, Nova

ATel.RSOph3


CCD photometry  of the recurrent nova RS Oph has been performed with the 1.2m telescope at OHP.  On 2006 June 9.02 UT,  we estimate  B=12.72, V=11.36, R=10.21 with an accuracy ±0.02 in all bands.  The brightness of the object is already low and B magnitude is dropped below the pre-outburst level. 
    For a 5 hours long observation run, we obtained 143 points in Cousins B, with mean B=12.728±0.014 mag. During our run, only a trend of fading from  B=12.71±0.01 (on 2006 June 08.863)  to  B=12.74±0.01  (on June 09.083 UT) was visible.
    We have not detected flickering on minute-to-hour time scale with amplitude greater than 0.03 mag. The full amplitude of variability was <0.053 mag (including the observation errors of ±0.010). The standard deviation for the 143 points was only 0.014 mag.  To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time when no rapid  photometric variability in B band is observed in this object.  Usually in B band, RS Oph exhibits variability on minute-to-hour time scale with  amplitude 0.2-0.3 mag, and standard deviation 0.050-0.090 mag (Gromadzki et al.  2006, AcA 56, 97; and references therein).
    The absence of flickering indicates that the accretion disk around the white dwarf, is destroyed after the 2006 outburst. For our understanding of the disk-flickering connection in the symbiotic binaries,  it will be  important to follow the B band and to detect when and how the flickering will re-appear (i.e. will it appear first on minute or on hour time scale).