Dwarf novae in outburst : simultaneous ultraviolet and optical observations of VW Hydri.
Verbunt, F.; Schwarzenberg-Czerny, A.; Ward, M.; Hanes, D. A.; Jones, D. H. P.; Pringle, J. E.; Wade, R. A.
Poland, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, United States
Abstract
The authors present simultaneous spectrophotometry of the dwarf nova VW Hydri in the range 1200 - 7000 Å. The main set of observations cover one complete outburst, including the rise and the decline. Comparing these data with data from other outbursts of VW Hyi it is found that all the data can be interleaved. This underlines the similarity in the behaviour of the continuum flux distribution from outburst to outburst. In particular the authors confirm the discovery by Hassall et al. that the outburst starts at optical wavelengths and spreads later to the ultraviolet.