ASTRONOMY: AM Herculis

Picture of Magnetic Cataclysmic Variable: Polar or AM Herculis System. This image is 400 x 515 pixels; the original measures 2,634 x 3,394 pixels.

Polar or AM Herculis System. An M-dwarf star loses material to a superstrongly magnetic white dwarf star. Again, the material forms an accretion stream. In AM Hers, the magnetic field is much stronger than in DQ Hers. Such a strong field captures the infalling material before it has a chance to form an accretion disc and tightly constrains it into a funnel. The channeled material then crashes near the magnetic pole of the white dwarf, again causing strong X-ray emissions. The blue haze around the white dwarf represents its magnetosphere.

LINKS:

Research at the Australian National University on AM Hers etc.

VARIABLE STAR OF THE MONTH June 2001 AM Herculis: article AAAVSO the American Association of Variable Star Observers.

Research at the Australian National University on MCVs White Dwarf Stars etc.

INFORMATION ON ASTRONOMY FROM ASTROWEB