Spitzer Space Telescope - Directors Discretionary Time Proposal #270


Spitzer observations of the 2006 eruption of RS Ophiuchi

Principal Investigator: Aneurin Evans
           Institution: Keele University

Co-Investigators: 
Bob Gehrz, U. Minnesota                                               
Sumner Starrfield, Arizona State                                      
Jan-Uwe Ness, Arizona State                                           
Jeremy Drake, CfA                                                     
Mike Bode, Liverpool John Moores                                      
Stewart Eyres, Central Lancashire                                     
Richard Davis, Manchester                                             
Tim O'Brien, Manchester                                               
Tom Geballe, Gemini Observatory                                       
Tom Kerr, JAC Hawaii                                                  
Greg Schwarz, Arizona                                                 
Joachim Krautter, Heidelberg                                          
Joachim Osborne, Leicester                                            
Kim Page, Leicester                                                   

Science Category: Evolved Stars/PN/SNE 
 Observing Modes: IrsStare 
  Hours Approved: 4.9 

Abstract:
The recurrent nova RS Ophiuchi erupted on 2006 February 12, its first
eruption since 1985.  Unlike the case for 'classical' novae, in which
the ejected material flows freely away from the site of the explosion,
in RS Ophiuchi the ejected material is ploughing its way through a red
giant wind.  We are monitoring the 2006 eruption with Swift, Chandra,
RXTE, XMM, VLA, and VLBA, giving us unprecedented insight into the
physics of this interaction, and of the eruption itself.  Spitzer is
an essential part of this jigsaw, and will reveal the far-IR coronal
and fine-structure line emission, the continuum from the hot shocked
gas, and the effect of the eruption on the red giant.