M31 Optical Transient

ATel #611; R. Quimby, P. Mondol, P. Hoeflich, J. C. Wheeler (University of Texas), and C. Gerardy (Imperial College)
on 23 Sep 2005; 20:10 UT
Credential Certification: Robert Quimby (quimby@astro.as.utexas.edu)

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We report the discovery of an optical transient near M31 using unfiltered CCD images taken on September 22.17 UT (about 16.3 mag) and September 23.21 (about 16.0 mag) using the 0.45m ROTSE-IIIb telescope at the McDonald Observatory. The object is located at RA = 00h38m54.63s DEC = +40o27'34.2" (J2000) and was not detected in ROTSE-IIIb data from September 20.18 UT (limiting mag about 17.6). A finding chart for the transient can be found at: http://grad40.as.utexas.edu/~quimby/tss/nova6.png

Finding Chart