RW Ursae Minoris

RW Ursae Minoris (Nova Ursae Minoris 1956) is a cataclysmic variable star system that flared up as a nova in the constellation Ursa Minor in 1956. Before the eruption, it had an apparent magnitude of 21 before flaring up to an approximate magnitude of 6. In 2003, it was still two magnitudes brighter than its baseline, and dimming at a rate of 0.02 magnitude a year. Its distance has been calculated as 5000 ± 800 parsecs (16,300 light-years), which puts its location in the galactic halo.[4] The Gaia spacecraft however shows it be roughly 1500 parsecs away.[2]

RW Ursae Minoris

Observation data Epoch J2000      Equinox J2000
Constellation	Ursa Minor
Right ascension	16^h 47^m 54.8194^s[1]
Declination	+77° 02′ 12.0608″[1]
Apparent magnitude (V)	6 Max. >21 Min.[2]
Astrometry
Proper motion (μ)	RA: −0.739±0.359[1] mas/yr Dec.: −2.812±0.486[1] mas/yr
Parallax (π)	0.4718 ± 0.1929[1] mas
Distance	1510+564 −199[2] pc
Other designations
AAVSO 1651+77, Nova UMi 1956, Gaia DR2 1704994848488583552[2][3]
Database references
SIMBAD	data

References

1. Brown, A. G. A.; et al. (Gaia collaboration) (August 2018). "Gaia Data Release 2: Summary of the contents and survey properties". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 616. A1. arXiv:1804.09365. Bibcode:2018A&A...616A...1G. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201833051. Gaia DR2 record for this source at VizieR.
2. Schaefer, Bradley E. (2018). "The distances to Novae as seen by Gaia". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 481 (3): 3033–3051. arXiv:1809.00180. Bibcode:2018MNRAS.481.3033S. doi:10.1093/mnras/sty2388.
3. "RW Ursae Minoris". SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved 2019-08-18.
4. Bianchini, A.; Tappert, C.; Canterna, R.; Tamburini, F.; Osborne, H.; Cantrell, K. (2003). "RW Ursae Minoris (1956): An Evolving Postnova System". The Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 115 (809): 811–18. Bibcode:2003PASP..115..811B. doi:10.1086/376434.