Guys,
I would like to submit you my first question .
Few days ago, during some setup test of our instrumentations, we collected some spectra relevant to the star HD187961 (or V1466 Aql).
To be honest we have choosen this star from Simbad just for his confortable position in the sky. According to Simbad it is classified as Be star spectral type B7V.
As expected we have recorded a strong Halpha emission. We were curious to compare our spectrum with another one uploaded into the Bess but, big surprise , this star is not in the database.
Do you have any idea about the reason why it's not in the DB?
Maybe is not properly a Be star?
Hoping in your help to clarify our doubts,
Best regards
Thank for letting us know Massimiliano! Yesterday I also observed that target with Lhires III 1200. Here is the spectrum (almost identical to your but at different resolution):
I looked up V1466 Aql on CdC and noticed that it is also a reference star in the NOAO catalog http://www.noao.edu/cflib/
I downloaded the spectrum and converted it into a ISIS readable dat file for comparison with your spectra.
Here is the spectrum:
HD187961NOAO.png (8.48 KiB) Viewed 8136 times
and a zoom-in to H-alpha:
HD187961NOAO_H-alpha.png (6.37 KiB) Viewed 8136 times
quite similar to Paolo's and Massimiliano's spectrum
Apparently this has been a Be star for quite some time.
Very good question !
The BeSS database is considered by the community (including professionnals) as the reference for the Be stars : it is not only a database for spectra, but it is first the best catalog for Be stars. Anyway, from time to time, amateurs can bring some news (:>). It already happened in the past that some stars have been added to BeSS thanks to the same kind of message that you sent.
This is Coralie Neiner (professionnal, at Paris-Meudo Observatory) who is responsible for updating the BeSS database when needed. I will send her a message (I'll copy you, of course ;>), asking why this star is not in BeSS.
My feeling is that this star is bright, and well known in emission for a long time : I would be surprised that we missed it - but we never know.
Keep in mind that not all the stars with emission lines are Be stars - this is more complex than that (;>).
Anyway, very good question, and stay tuned for the answer (:>).
Thank you very much François, and thanks to everybody for your answers.
François I have your same feeling, anyway let's see what Coralie will answer to youe mail.
Thanks again for the collaboration and help.
Regards
Max
Whaou.... here is the reply from Coralie (you got it directly, but I copy it to share it with the community) :
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V1466 Aql was discovered to have Halpha emission in 1990 and was listed in the 1999 catalog of Kohoutek. We did use this catalog (among others) to make the BeSS catalog, so we knew that star was known as an Halpha emission star.
However, Halpha in emission does not necessarily mean that it is a Be star. At the time when we prepared the BeSS catalog, in 2006, only classical Be stars were listed in BeSS and we had no information to decide whether this star was really a classical Be star. It could just as well be, for example, a Herbig star, a B[e] star, or a supergiant. Also, since it is a binary, the contribution to the line profile from the companion could have been mistaken for emission. This often happened in the past.
Following Massimilio's question, I checked the new information that became available since 2006 about that star. In particular some papers show that the star rotates very fast (which points towards it being a Be star), that its spectral type is B7V (which excludes a supergiant star). The recent Halpha observation, for example by Massimilio, also show a quite strong Halpha emission and clearly exclude that it is just the companion that deformed the profile.
While I have not been able to find an IR spectrum or spectral energy distribution of that star (and had no time to prepare one myself), and thus I cannot exclude that V1466 Aql could be a Herbig or B[e] star, I think there are sufficient new information to suspect this star to indeed be a Be star. In any case, BeSS now also includes Herbig stars, so we can introduce this star in BeSS even if it is a Herbig star.
So, thank you Massimilio to push me to have a new look at that Be candidate. I will introduce it in BeSS!
Cheers,
Coralie
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Then, your question was a very, very good question !
V1466 Aql will appear in BeSS quite soon I guess; let's keep an ey on it. And of course, as soon as the star is visible in BeSS, you'll be able to upload your spectrum.
Congratulation, Massimiliano, and thank you for your question.
.
, this star is not in the database.
