Detection of H2 Emission from Mira B in UV Spectra from the Hubble Space Telescope

We present ultraviolet spectra of Mira’s companion star from the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) instrument on board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The companion is generally assumed to be a white dwarf surrounded by an accretion disk fed by Mira’s wind, which dominates the UV emission from the system. The STIS UV spectrum is dominated by numerous, narrow H2 lines fluoresced by H I Lyα, which were not detected in any of the numerous observations of Mira B by the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE). The high temperature lines detected by IUE (e.g., C IV λ1550) still exist in the STIS spectrum but with dramatically lower fluxes. The continuum fluxes in the STIS spectra are also much lower, being more than an order of magnitude lower than ever observed by IUE, and also an order of magnitude lower than fluxes observed in more recent HST Faint Object Camera objective prism spectra from 1995. Thus, the accretion rate onto Mira B was apparently much lower when STIS observed the star, and this change altered the character of Mira B’s UV spectrum. Subject headings: accretion, accretion disks — binaries: close — stars: individual (o Ceti) — stars: winds, outflows — ultraviolet: stars