Discovery of a Probable Nova in M81

ATel #9737; K. Hornoch (Ondrejov), H. Kucakova (Charles University), M. Henze (CSIC-IEEC), S. C. Williams (Lancaster), M. J. Darnley (LJMU), A. Kaur, D. H. Hartmann (Clemson), G. Sala, J. Jose, J. Figueira (UPC-IEEC), M. Hernanz (CSIC-IEEC), A. W. Shafter (SDSU), H. Meusinger (TLS)
on 9 Nov 2016; 14:34 UT
Credential Certification: Martin Henze (henze@ice.cat)

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The M81 nova monitoring collaboration reports the discovery of a probable nova in M81 on a co-added 3150-s unfiltered CCD frame taken on 2016 Nov. 8.183 UT with the 0.65-m telescope at Ondrejov (OND). The new object is also visible on a prediscovery stack of 20 x 200s R filter images taken with the Telescopi Joan Oro (TJO) on Nov. 8.071 UT.

The new object designated PNV J09555591+6904050 is located at R.A. = 9h55m55s.91, Decl. = +69o04'05".0 (equinox 2000.0), which is 121.9" east and 9.9" north of the center of M81 (see link to discovery image below).

Here we list the observing dates and corresponding photometry:

 
  Date [UT]    |  Mag  | Err  | Filter | Telescope  
2016-11-04.002 | <21.5 |      | R      | TJO 
2016-11-04.190 | <21.9 |      | C      | OND 
2016-11-08.071 |  20.6 | 0.4  | R      | TJO 
2016-11-08.183 |  20.0 | 0.2  | C      | OND 
 

The 0.65-m OND is a reflecting telescope at the Ondrejov observatory operated jointly by the Astronomical Institute of ASCR and the Astronomical Institute of the Charles University of Prague, Czech Republic. It uses a Moravian Instruments G2-3200 CCD camera (with a Kodak KAF-3200ME sensor and standard BVRI photometric filters) mounted at the prime focus. The unfiltered photometry was calibrated against R-band comparison stars from Perelmuter & Racine (1995). The TJO is a 80-cm Ritchey-Chretien F/9.6 telescope at the Observatori Astronomic del Montsec, owned by the Catalan Government and operated by the Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya, Spain. It uses a Finger Lakes PL4240-1-BI CCD Camera with a Class 1 Basic Broadband coated 2k x 2k chip with 13.5 microns square pixels. The TJO photometry is based on the SDSS DR7 photometry catalogue.

Discovery image