INT WFC photometry of a Galactic flare star spatially coincident with the recurrent nova candidate M31N 1966-08a = 1968-10c

ATel #11094; C. Arce-Tord, A. Esteban-Gutierrez, E. Garcia-Broock, M. Garcia-Rivas, L. Gonzalez-Cuesta, L. Hermosa-Mu\~noz, M. Hernandez-Sanchez, A. Jimenez-Gallardo, E. Lopez-Navas, E. A. Mantero-Casta\~neda, J. Otero-Santos, M. G. Prendin, and M. Rodriguez-Sanchez (Universidad de La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain), and I. Perez-Fournon (Universidad de La Laguna and Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias, Tenerife, Spain)
on 27 Dec 2017; 09:15 UT
Credential Certification: Ismael Perez-Fournon (ipf@iac.es)

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We report photometry in the Sloan g (3x150s), r (3x100s), and i (3x100s) bands of the recurrent nova candidate M31N 1966-08a = 1968-10c (= PNV J00412371+4114594) from observations with the Wide Field Camera of the Isaac Newton Telescope* on the night of 28 October 2017.

E. Conseil reported on CBAT "Transient Object Followup Reports" (on PNV J00412371+4114594) the discovery of a 15.5 mag CV transient at the position of this nova candidate on exposures taken on 2017-12-20 at 20h25 UT with the Slooh robotic telescopes T2WF and T2UWF at the Observatorio del Teide, Tenerife, Canary Islands. Conseil reported also than on 2017 12 21.8750 the transient disappeared (limiting magnitude ~19.5). He also noticed that A. W. Shafter et al 2017 Res. Notes AAS 1 44 reported that this object is not a recurrent nova in M31 nor a Galactic dwarf nova, but rather a Galactic dMe flare star projected against the Andromeda galaxy, using a Hobby Eberly Telescope (HET) spectrum of the quiescent counterpart of M31N 1966-08a, J004123.75+411459.6, obtained on 2017 November 23.27 UT.

The following AB magnitudes, calibrated using the PanSTARRS-1 DR1 catalog, were obtained with the INT WFC:
g = 20.56 +/- 0.11, 2017 Oct. 28.927 UT
r = 19.49 +/- 0.08, 2017 Oct. 28.935 UT
i = 17.72 +/- 0.04, 2017 Oct. 28.942 UT

We also report that this star is detected in the Gaia DR1 and PanSTARRS PS1 DR1 catalogs.

The Gaia DR1 catalog J2000 coordinates are RA = 00 41 23.7382, Dec = +41 14 59.527, with errors e_RA = 17.508 mas, e_Dec = 16.977 mas, and Gmag = 18.376.

The PanSTARRS PS1 DR1 mean PSF magnitudes are g = 20.591 +/- 0.023, r = 19.564 +/- 0.02, i = 17.774 +/- 0.014, z = 16.974 +/- 0.002, y = 16.649 +/- 0.004. Our photometry is consistent within the errors with the PanSTARRS photometry which may indicate that the star was not active during our INT WFC observations.

* Based on observations made with the Isaac Newton Telescope operated on the island of La Palma by the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes in the Spanish Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos of the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias.

We thank the ING staff for their support of the observations at the Isaac Newton Telescope.

PanSTARRS finding chart and FITS images