HS1023+3900 = WX LMi


This is the first member of the so-called Low Accretion Rate Polars, characterized by an almost pure cyclotron emission spectrum. This object has not been seen in the X-rays, indicating a very low mass transfer rate. More recently, people started to wonder whether this is a polar, or rather a pre-polar in which the white dwarf is accreting not through Roche-lobe overflow, but from the wind of the still detached donor star. Monitoring is extremely important, as the detection of a real high state would clearly rule out that second possibility.
finding chart


Literature
Reimers, D.; Hagen, H.-J.; Hopp, U., 1999. HS 1023+3900 - a magnetic CV in the period gap with a distinct cyclotron emission line spectrum, Astronomy & Astrophysics 343, 157

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