Eclipses No(s): 66
State: Rising
Another surprise from CG Draconis – a post-egress hump (PEH) during the very early rising stage of the outburst, combined with high orbital hump amplitude – a U/H/PEH type profile, seen first. There was an interruption in data right after the PEH peak, but we can still see it was rather narrow.
At this state the white dwarf’s accretion disk must still be dim and cold, or at least partially hot, as the bright spot is prominent, peaking at phase 0.85 when it’s directly facing Earth. Its amplitude almost reaches 0.2 mag, making it a “high” hump in my classification.
What normally follows is an asymmetric, slower egress, however, this time we have an opposite case, I think, caused by a PEH. peaking at approximately phase 1.1. This phase coincides with the emergence of the bright spot on the other side of the eclipse. This could signify that the diameter of the bright spot is bigger than the thickness of the accretion disk, or, perhaps, that the disk is unusually optically thin at this early stage of the outburst.
It would be really interesting to have some input on these speculations. Although I have only recorded two eclipses during the rising stage of the CG Dra outburst, I would expect asymmetric egress, with the bright spot concealed by the disk on the other side of the eclipse.
If the disk is so unusually transparent tonight, what suddenly caused it? We have seen no PEHs during previous eclipses after the bright outburst. If the bright spot is unusually large now, extending beyond the accretion disk, which is supported by the absence of the standstill on the egress, then does this signify an increased accretion rate? If so, what has suddenly caused it? We have seen that there was no PEH at all yesterday – the eclipse was asymmetric.
The more data is being collected, the more questions I have.
Max
