Rapid Oscillations in Cataclysmic Variables. XV. HT Camelopardalis (= RX J0757.0+6306)

Jonathan Kemp, Joseph Patterson, John Thorstensen, Robert Fried, David Skillman, and Gary Billings

Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific

June 2002, Volume 114, Page 623

We present photometry and spectroscopy of HT Camelopardalis, a recently discovered X-ray-bright cataclysmic variable. The spectrum shows bright lines of H, He I, and He II, all moving with a period of 0.059712(1) d, which we interpret as the orbital period. The star's brightness varies with a strict period of 515.0592(2) s, and a mean full amplitude of 0.11 mag. These properties qualify it as a bona fide DQ Herculis star (intermediate polar) - in which the magnetism of the rapidly rotating white dwarf channels accretion flow to the surface. Normally at V=17.8, the star shows rare and very brief outbursts to V=12-13. We observed one in December 2001, and found that the 515 s pulse amplitude had increased by a factor of ~100 (in flux units). A transient orbital signal may also have appeared.

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Copyright © 2002 Astronomical Society of the Pacific.