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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 April 2016
Multi-wavelength observations have shown that, after optical decline, the stellar remnants of classical nova outbursts evolve at constant, near-Eddington, bolometric luminosity to high effective temperature (> 2 105 K), before turning off. Here we briefly review the observations of classical novae in this phase of evolution, and discuss what the soft X-ray observations tell us about the mass of the underlying white dwarf and the rate of mass change due to stellar winds and accretion from the stellar companion.