Spectroscopic Confirmation of ASASSN-16ra as a 2016 Galactic Nova in Norma
ATel #10764; L. Chomiuk, J. Strader, A. Bahramian (Michigan State), K. Z. Stanek, C. S. Kochanek (Ohio State)
on 21 Sep 2017; 03:01 UT
Credential Certification: Laura Chomiuk (chomiuk@pa.msu.edu)
Referred to by ATel #: 10780
We present spectroscopic confirmation of the recently announced optical transient ASASSN-16ra (ATel #10740) as a Galactic nova in the nebular phase. The spectrum was obtained with the Goodman Spectrograph on the SOAR telescope on Sep 20.98, ~18 months after it first appeared in ASAS-SN data. The spectrum covers 3800--7800 A at a resolution of 5.8 A. Clear Balmer emission is seen, along with strong forbidden emission lines of [O II], [O III], and [N II]. Weaker emission lines of He I, [NII], N III, [O I], [Ar III], [Ar IV], [Ar V], [Fe III], [Fe VI], and [Fe VII] are also apparent. The [O III] lines have width, FWZI ~ 2140 km/s, consistent with a nova expanding in its nebular phase.
We also obtained imaging with SOAR, which enabled us to measure an improved position for ASASSN-16ra of RA = 15:41:45.385, Dec = -53:08:07.03 (J2000; approximate uncertainty ~0.1'').
