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Six Optical Transients From the PQ Survey

ATel #1234; A. J. Drake, A. Mahabal, S. G. Djorgovski, E. Glikman, C. Donalek, M. J. Graham, R. Williams (Caltech); C. Baltay, D. Rabinowitz, A. Bauer, R. Scalzo, N. Elman, J. Jerke (Yale), J. Hennawi (UCB) and A. Myers (UIUC) and the PQ Survey Team;
on 11 Oct 2007; 18:17 UT
Distributed as an Instant Email Notice Request For Observations
Credential Certification: Andrew J. Drake (ajd@cacr.caltech.edu)

Subjects: Optical, Request for Observations, Transient

Referred to by ATel #: 1240, 1244, 1250

We have detected six strong optical transients in the Palomar-Quest (PQ) survey drift scans obtained at the Palomar 48-inch Samuel Oschin Telescope on 8-11 Oct 2007 UT. The transients are unresolved, and at the following J2000 coordinates:

PQOT015849-022627 2007-10-10 UT 08:14:54 RA 01:58:49.66 Dec -02:26:27.5
PQOT034520-012111 2007-10-10 UT 09:57:40 RA 03:45:20.78 Dec -01:21:11.1
PQOT024105-033814 2007-10-09 UT 09:13:37 RA 02:41:05.70 Dec -03:38:14.1
PQOT230627+095342 2007-10-08 UT 04:25:35 RA 23:06:27.43 Dec +09:53:42.6
PQOT224527+103932 2007-10-08 UT 04:09:13 RA 22:45:27.42 Dec +10:39:32.7
PQOT031515-034914 2007-10-11 UT 09:30:52 RA 03:15:15.35 Dec -03:49:13.9

For finding charts, offsets, etc., please see: http://www.cacr.caltech.edu/~ajd/ATEL or http://palquest.org/transients/.

Of the six transients only PQV224527+103932 appears to have an associated source in archival PQ images (reaching down to ~ 21 - 22 mag). This transient is approximately 2 magnitudes brighter than the possible associated source and became approximately 0.5 magnitudes brighter between 2007-10-08 UT 04:09:13 and 2007-10-10 UT 06:35:13 in Gunn-I band.

None of the sources are present in the archival DSS images, SIMBAD, NED, or correspond to FIRST and NVSS radio surveys. PQOT230627+095342 is close to an anonymous galaxy and is likely to be a supernova. All sources were detected and published as VOEvents in near-realtime. Further observations, especially spectroscopy, are strongly encouraged.