QS Telescopii explained

QS Telescopii is a faint, well-studied binary star system in the southern constellation Telescopium. It is composed of a white dwarf and main sequence donor star, locked into a close, circular orbit facing one another. Known as polars, material from the donor star does not form an accretion disk around the white dwarf, but rather streams directly onto it. This is due to the presence of the white dwarf's strong magnetic field. The pair undergo frequent shifts between a high and low accretion states, and it shifts between single and double accretion poles. The main pole is partially self-eclipsing.

The pair orbit each other with a period of 2.33 hours in a circular orbit. The donor star is a small red dwarf with an estimated stellar classification of M4−5. The white dwarf primary has 71% of the mass of the Sun and an effective temperature of 17,500 K. It has a magnetic field strength of 50–80 MG. The system is a source for X-ray emission.

See also

• Variable stars
• Polar (cataclysmic variable)
• AM Herculis

Further reading

• An eclipsing geometry for the polar QS Tel . 1 . Romero-Colmenero . E. . Potter . S. B. . Buckley . D. A. H. . The Astrophysics of Cataclysmic Variables and Related Objects, Proceedings of ASP Conference . J.-M. . Hameury . J.-P. . Lasota . San Francisco . Astronomical Society of the Pacific . 330 . 429 . August 2005 . 2005ASPC..330..429R .
• Spectroscopic and polarimetric observations of QS Tel . 1 . Romero-Colmenero . E. . Potter . S. B. . Buckley . D. A. H. . Astronomische Nachrichten . 325 . 3 . 214 . March 2004 . 10.1002/asna.200310216 . 2004AN....325..214R .
• Multiwavelength monitoring of QS Tel . 1 . Rosen . S. R. . Rainger . J. F. . Burleigh . M. R. . Mittaz . J. P. D. . Buckley . D. A. H. . Sirk . M. M. . Lieu . R. . Howell . S. B. . de Martino . D. . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . 322 . 3 . 631–642 . April 2001 . 10.1046/j.1365-8711.2001.04141.x . 2001MNRAS.322..631R . free .
• Insights into the accretion flow in QS Telescopii (RE1938-461) from HST observations . de Martino . D. . Mouchet . M. . Rosen . S. R. . Gänsicke . B. T. . Clayton . K. L. . Mason . K. O. . 1 . Astronomy and Astrophysics . 329 . 571–578 . January 1998 . 1998A&A...329..571D .
• Accretion mode changes in QS Tel (RE 1938-461): EUVE, ROSAT and optical observations . Rosen . S. R. . Mittaz . J. P. D. . Buckley . D. A. . Layden . A. C. . Clayton . K. L. . McCain . C. . Wynn . G. A. . Sirk . M. M. . Osborne . J. P. . Watson . M. G. . 1 . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . 280 . 4 . 1121–1142 . June 1996 . 10.1093/mnras/280.4.1121 . 1996MNRAS.280.1121R . free . 2381/38963 . free .
• Recent progress on the polar QS Tel: the HST results . 1 . Clayton . K. L. . Rosen . S. R. . Osborne . J. P. . Astrophysics and Space Science Library . Cataclysmic variables and related objects. Proceedings of the 158th colloquium of the International Astronomical Union (IAU); held at Keele; United Kingdom; June 26-30; 1995; Dordrecht . Kluwer Academic Publishers . A. . Evans . Janet H. . Wood . 225 . 1996 . 10.1007/978-94-009-0325-8_68 . 1996ASSL..208..225C .
• UV observations of the polar system RE 1938-461 . de Martino . D. . Buckely . D. A. H. . Mouchet . M. . Mukai . K. . Astronomy and Astrophysics . 298 . L5 . June 1995 . 1995A&A...298L...5D .
• EUVE Spectrophotometry of QS Tel (RE1938-461): The Second Pole Becomes Active . 1 . Rosen . S. . Mittaz . J. . Buckley . D. A. H. . Layden . A. . McCain . C. . Cape Workshop on Magnetic cataclysmic variables; Proceedings of the Cape Workshop, held in Cape Town, 23-27 January 1995 . Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series . San Francisco . Astronomical Society of the Pacific . D. A. H. . Buckley . B. . Warner . 85 . 279 . 1995 . 1995ASPC...85..279R .
• Two-pole accretion in the high-field polar RXJ 1938.6-4612. . Schwope . A. D. . Thomas . H. -C. . Beuermann . K. . Burwitz . V. . Jordan . S. . Haefner . R. . 1 . Astronomy and Astrophysics . 293 . 764–776 . January 1995 . 1995A&A...293..764S .
• The Polarization and Magnetic Field of REJ1938-461 during its Low State . Ferrario . L. . Wickramasinghe . D. T. . Bailey . J. A. . Buckley . D. A. H. . 1 . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . 268 . 1 . 128 . May 1994 . 10.1093/mnras/268.1.128 . 1994MNRAS.268..128F . free .
• Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer Observations of the Magnetic Cataclysmic Variable RE 1938-461 . 1 . Warren . John K. . Vallerga . John V. . Mauche . Christopher W. . Mukai . Koji . Siegmund . Oswald H. W. . Astrophysical Journal Letters . 414 . L69 . September 1993 . 10.1086/186998 . 1993ApJ...414L..69W .
• EUVE Observations of the Magnetic Cataclysmic Variable RE1938-461 . 1 . Warren . J. K. . Vallerga . J. V. . Mauche . C. W. . Mukai . K. . Siegmund . O. H. W. . American Astronomical Society, 181st AAS Meeting . 80.07 . Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society . 24 . 1250 . December 1992 . 1992AAS...181.8007W .