Erlangen 2026 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik

T 84: Gamma Astronomy II

T 84.6: Vortrag

Donnerstag, 19. März 2026, 17:30–17:45, KS 00.005

Optical Light Curves of Classical Novae from H.E.S.S. Night-Sky Background Data — •Sayak Ghosh, Alison Mitchell, and Gerrit Roellinghoff for the H.E.S.S. collaboration — Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics, Nikolaus-Fiebiger-Str. 2, 91058 Erlangen, Germany

Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs) are designed for very-high-energy gamma-ray astronomy, but their large mirror areas and fast cameras also record variations in the optical night-sky background (NSB). In this work, we explore the use of NSB data from the H.E.S.S. telescope array to extract relative optical light curves of classical novae.

We develop an analysis framework based on pixel-level NSB rates from the H.E.S.S. CT1-CT4 cameras. The approach accounts for instrumental and atmospheric effects and isolates time-dependent variations in the NSB signal. Corrected NSB values are combined over selected pixel regions and time intervals to construct relative optical light curves on intra-night and multi-night timescales.

We apply this to H.E.S.S. observations of classical novae, and we discuss variations and limitations of the method. This study shows that NSB data from H.E.S.S. can be used to investigate relative optical variability in bright transient sources, while clearly outlining the constraints of this approach.

Keywords: H.E.S.S.; Classical novae; IACTs; NSB; Transient sources