Independent Discovery of an Apparent Nova in M81

ATel #10102; K. Hornoch (Ondrejov), H. Kucakova (Charles University), S. C. Williams (Lancaster), M. Henze (CSIC-IEEC), M. J. Darnley (LJMU), A. Kaur, D. H. Hartmann (Clemson), G. Sala, J. Jose, J. Figueira, P. Sin (UPC-IEEC), M. Hernanz (CSIC-IEEC), A. W. Shafter (SDSU), H. Meusinger (TLS)
on 20 Feb 2017; 13:31 UT
Credential Certification: Martin Henze (henze@ice.cat)

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The M81 nova monitoring collaboration reports the independent discovery of an apparent nova in M81 on a co-added 5400-s unfiltered CCD frame taken on 2017 Feb. 19.962 UT with the 0.65-m telescope at Ondrejov (OND). The candidate was already faintly visible on a stack of 20x200s R filter CCD images obtained with the 0.80-m telescope Joan Oro (TJO) on Feb. 18.021 UT.

The object designated PNV J09553619+6906210 was first announced and designated AT2017axz by F. Castellani et al. (see here) and is located at R.A. = 9h55m36s.19, Decl. = +69o06'21".0 (equinox 2000.0), which is 16.2" east and 145.9" 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  
2017-02-15.155 | <21.8 |      | C      | OND 
2017-02-18.021 |  21.7 | 0.4  | R      | TJO 
2017-02-19.962 |  19.2 | 0.15 | C      | OND 
 

The OND 0.65-m 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 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 unfiltered OND data was calibrated using photometric standards from the M81 globular cluster catalogue of Perelmuter & Racine, 1995. The TJO photometry is based on the SDSS DR7 photometry catalogue.

Discovery image