Discovery of an Apparent Nova in M81

ATel #10254; K. Hornoch (Ondrejov), H. Kucakova (Charles University), M. Henze (CSIC-IEEC), G. Sala, J. Jose, J. Figueira, P. Sin (UPC-IEEC), M. Hernanz (CSIC-IEEC), S. C. Williams (Lancaster), H. Meusinger, M. J. Darnley (LJMU), A. Kaur, D. H. Hartmann (Clemson), A. W. Shafter (SDSU)
on 11 Apr 2017; 10:30 UT
Credential Certification: Martin Henze (henze@ice.cat)

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The M81 nova monitoring collaboration reports the discovery of an apparent nova in M81 on a co-added 2970-s unfiltered CCD frame taken on 2017 Apr. 9.902 UT with the 0.65-m telescope at Ondrejov (OND). The nova is also visible on several prediscovery R-band images taken with the 0.80-m telescope Joan Oro (TJO).

The object designated PNV J09552544+6905239 is located at R.A. = 9h55m25s.44, Decl. = +69o05'23".9 (equinox 2000.0), which is 41.4" west and 88.8" 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 
2017-03-30.842 | <21.3 |      | C       | OND 
2017-04-03.873 | <21.5 |      | R       | TJO 
2017-04-06.887 |  21.2 | 0.5  | R       | TJO 
2017-04-07.932 |  20.1 | 0.4  | R       | TJO 
2017-04-08.898 |  20.3 | 0.5  | R       | TJO 
2017-04-09.902 |  19.7 | 0.2  | C       | OND 
2017-04-09.928 |  20.5 | 0.5  | R       | TJO 
2017-04-11.093 |  19.7 | 0.5  | R       | TJO 
 

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 Telescopi Joan Oro (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 photometry was calibrated against R-band comparison stars from Perelmuter & Racine (1995). The TJO photometry is based on the SDSS DR7 photometry catalogue.

Discovery image