Discovery of DLT18x/AT2018bwo in NGC45 with PROMPT and the DLT40 Survey
ATel #11665; S. Wyatt (Arizona), D. Sand (Arizona), S. Valenti (UC Davis), S. Yang (INAF-OAPd), D. E. Reichart, J. B. Haislip, V. Kouprianov (UNC)
on 22 May 2018; 23:13 UT
Distributed as an Instant Email Notice Transients
Credential Certification: David Sand (dave.j.sand@gmail.com)
Subjects: Optical, Transient
Referred to by ATel #: 11666
We report the discovery of DLT18x/AT 2018bwo, which was first imaged by the PROMPT5 0.41m telescope at CTIO on 2018 May 22.42 (UT) at r~16.4 mag during the ongoing D<40 Mpc (DLT40) sub-day cadence supernova search. A confirmation image was obtained on 2018 May 22.81 (UT) with the PROMPT telescope at Meckering Observatory, with an r~16.23 mag. DLT18x is located at RA: 03:30:25.27 DEC: -23:11:35.38 (~4.6 arcmin from the potential host galaxy NGC45). Given the distance to NGC45 (D~7 Mpc), DLT8x is at an absolute magnitude of M_V~-12.8 mag, which means this transient could be either a young supernova, or a luminous blue variable in outburst. We do not detect the transient on 2018 May 16.35 (UT) or in prior imaging of the field. All images were taken in a 'Clear' (PROMPT5) or 'Open' (PROMPT-MO) filter which was calibrated to an approximate r-band magnitude. Further observations are encouraged.
