Photometric Follow-up of Transients from the PQ Survey

ATel #1244; A. Mahabal, A. J. Drake, S. G. Djorgovski, C. Donalek, E. Glikman, M. J. Graham, R. Williams (Caltech); I. Steele, N. Clay (Liverpool John Moores), T. Brown (LCOGT), A. Allan, E. Saunders, T. Naylor (Exeter), P. E. Nugent (LBL), C. Baltay, D. Rabinowitz, A. Bauer, R. Scalzo, N. Elman, J. Jerke (Yale) and the PQ Survey Team
on 17 Oct 2007; 19:45 UT
Credential Certification: Ashish Mahabal (aam@astro.caltech.edu)

Tweet

We have obtained photometric follow-up for the three transients discovered by the PQ survey (Drake et al. Atel #1234, Djorgovski et al. Atel #1240) with the Faulkes Telescope North (FTN) in collaboration with the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network, Liverpool John Moores University and Exeter University. Each transient was observed in two 180 second R-band exposures.

The following magnitudes were obtained on 2007-10-11. The two images were obtained in quick succession and the difference in magnitudes is indicative of the uncertainties.

PQT 071010:015849-022627, 20.1 at UT 10:21:26.948
PQT 071010:015849-022627, 20.3 at UT 10:24:35.955
PQT 071009:024105-033814, 20.2 at UT 09:50:40.643
PQT 071009:024105-033814, 19.9 at UT 09:53:49.674
PQT 071008:224527+103932, 17.9 at UT 10:41:55.229
PQT 071008:224527+103932, 18.0 at UT 10:45:04.188

From these images it appears that both PQT 071010:015849-022627 and PQT 071008:224527+103932 are not associated with obvious nearby galaxies. Indeed, PQT 071010:015849-022627 does not show the presence of a host galaxy in coadded archival NEAT survey images at an R-band limiting magnitude of ~23.5 (P. Nugent, LBL). PQT 071009:024105-033814 on the other hand, may be associated with Galaxy B023830.10-035020.9 which is seen to extend to the location of the transient. In addition, we have produced lightcurves combining the PQ and Faulkes R-band data taken between October 8-11. The only transient exhibiting a clear increasing brightness is PQT 071008:224527+103932 (in agreement with Atel #1234).

The FTN follow-up observations were enabled by the VOEventNet real-time astronomical event network. VOEvents generated by the Palomar-Quest real-time reduction pipeline were transmitted to the eStar event broker at Exeter and prioritized for automated observing on the Faulkes telescopes.

The follow-up data and lightcurves for the objects are available at here.

Transients from Palomar-Quest