Discovery of two Probable Novae in M81

ATel #10767; K. Hornoch (Ondrejov), H. Kucakova (Charles University), M. Henze (SDSU), 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 21 Sep 2017; 23:18 UT
Credential Certification: Martin Henze (henze@ice.cat)

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The M81 nova monitoring collaboration reports the discovery of two probable novae in M81 on a co-added 2700-s unfiltered CCD frame taken on 2017 Sep. 18.129 UT with the 0.65-m telescope at Ondrejov (OND).

Designations, positions, and offsets of the new objects from the M81 center are summarized in the following table:

 
  TOCP designation    CBAT designation  R.A. (J2000)  Dec. (J2000)  Offset R.A.  Offset Dec. 
 
PNV J09553590+6904228  M81N 2017-09a?   09 55 35.90   +69 04 22.8     14.6" E      27.7" N 
PNV J09561042+6906106  M81N 2017-09b?   09 56 10.42   +69 06 10.6    199.5" E     135.5" N 

Photometry of PNV J09553590+6904228:

 
  Date [UT]    |  Mag  | Err | Filter | Telescope  
2017-06-20.931 | <20.5 |     | C      | OND 
2017-09-18.129 |  18.7 | 0.1 | C      | OND 

Photometry of PNV J09561042+6906106:

 
  Date [UT]    |  Mag  | Err | Filter | Telescope  
2017-06-20.931 | <21.4 |     | C      | OND 
2017-09-18.129 |  20.7 | 0.2 | 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 unfiltered OND photometry was calibrated against R-band comparison stars from Perelmuter & Racine (1995).

Discovery image