Discovery of Possible Bright Nova in NGC891 : P60-NGC891-080813
ATel #1663; M. M. Kasliwal, S. B. Cenko, A. Rau, E. O. Ofek, R. Quimby, S. R. Kulkarni (Caltech)
on 16 Aug 2008; 00:06 UT
Distributed as an Instant Email Notice Transients
Credential Certification: Mansi Manoj Kasliwal (mansi@astro.caltech.edu)
Subjects: Cataclysmic Variable, Nova, Transient
On UT 2008 Aug 13.45, P60-FasTING (Palomar 60-inch Fast Transients In Nearby Galaxies) discovered an optical transient at RA(J2000)=02:22:32.70, DEC(J2000)=42:21:56.1 in the field of NGC891. P60-NGC891-080813 is offset from the nucleus of NGC891 by 8"W,59"N. The light curve thus far is g>22 (Jul 30.48), g=21.2 (Aug 13.45), g=21.0 (Aug 14.32), g=21.0 (Aug 15.32). Photometric calibration is wrt USNO-B1 and uncertain by 0.2 mags. At the distance of NGC891 (DM=29.97+/-0.13, B. Tully, pers. comm.), this corresponds to Mg = -9.0 without correcting for extinction. The estimated galactic foreground extinction (Schlegel et al) towards NGC891 is Ag = 0.25. The present data are consistent with a classical nova origin.
