3D physical structure and angular expansion of the remnant of the recurrent nova T Pyx

Abstract

ABSTRACT We present the analysis of archival Very Large Telescope (VLT) Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) and multi-epoch Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) and Wide Field Camera 3/Ultraviolet-Visible Imaging Spectrograph (WFC3/UVIS) narrow-band observations of the remnant associated with the ejecta of the mid-nineteenth century outburst of the recurrent nova T Pyx. These data sets are used to investigate its true three-dimensional (3D) physical structure and the nebular expansion patterns along the line of sight and on the plane of the sky. The VLT MUSE emission line maps and 3D visualizations based on position–position–velocity diagrams reveal T Pyx as a bipolar nebula, with a knotty toroidal structure at its waist best seen in H $\beta$ and two open bowl-shaped bipolar lobes (a diabolo) best revealed by the [O iii] emission lines. The comparison of multi-epoch HST WFPC2 and WFC3/UVIS narrow-band images and VLT MUSE emission-line maps of T Pyx reveals the angular expansion of the remnant through the proper motion of individual knots and nebular features. The angular expansion is confirmed to be homologous in the period from 1994.2 to 2007.4 before the recent 2011 outburst, but there is suggestive evidence that the inner knots have experienced a higher expansion rate since then.