Continuous presence of bipolar jets from Z And during its 2006 outburst
ATel #930; A. Skopal (Astronomical Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Tatranska Lomnica), M. Wolf (Astronomical Institute, Charles University, Prague)
on 3 Nov 2006; 18:18 UT
Credential Certification: Augustin Skopal (skopal@ta3.sk)
Subjects: Optical, Binary, Variables
We report on the continuing activity of the symbiotic prototype
Z And during its 2006 major outburst that began in 2006 April
(cf. ATEL 882). The system still keeps its brightness at a high
level (U=9.04, B=9.79, V=9.24, Rc=8.58 as measured on 2006 Oct 26.88
at the Skalnate Pleso Observatory), which is comparable with that
from 2006 Aug 15.88 (U=8.87, B=9.43, V=8.94, Stara Lesna Observatory).
On 2006 Oct 18.90 we obtained high-resolution spectrum of Z And
(R = 13000) at the Ondrejov Observatory, Academy of Sciences
of the Czech Republic, using the coude spectrograph of 2-m reflector
in the range of 6400 - 6920 A. A strong central H-alpha emission
component was accompanied by weak jet emissions located strictly
bipolarly at radial velocities |RV| = 1165(+/-11) km/s.
The integrated fluxes and FWHM for the violet and the red jet
were 4.1(0.5), 2.9(0.5) x 1.0E-12 erg sE-1 cmE-2 and 201(10),
192(11) km/s, respectively. The flux ratio of the violet to the red
component was ~ 1.4, whereas on 2006 Aug 30 this ratio was ~ 1.
This could be caused by an occultation of the red jet by the giant
at its inferior conjunction (orbital phase = 0.016 on 2006 Oct 18.9).
Contrary to the spectrum from 2006 Aug 30, absorption component in
the HeI 6678 profile was not present. The Raman scattered OVI line
at 6830 A was not detectable in the present spectrum. We estimate
the full extension of the jet features to about 200 m.a.s. for the
distance of 1.5 kpc. Z And thus could be detectable on the radio images,
for example.
