Confirmation of the 2019 nova outburst from RN M31N 1960-12a/2013-05b
ATel #12943; Monika Soraisam (NOAO), Chien-Hsiu Lee (NOAO), Gautham Narayan (STScI), Thomas Matheson (NOAO), Abhijit Saha (NOAO), Arizona-NOAO Temporal Analysis and Response to Events System (ANTARES) team
on 15 Jul 2019; 20:14 UT
Credential Certification: Monika Soraisam (soraisam@noao.edu)
Subjects: Optical, Nova, Transient
We report the confirmation of the recurrence of M31 nova 1960-12a/2013-05b. The present outburst was observed in the public part of the ZTF survey on MJD 58674.45509 (10 July 2019) with a magnitude of g=18.39+/-0.07, preceded by non-detections, latest of which was on 7 July 2019. The outburst was independently reported in Atel #12915. We received automated real-time notification of the ZTF alert (ID ZTF19abfqlzi) from this nova via the ANTARES alert-broker (https://antares.noao.edu/), whereby we continuously monitor for new alert hits on old novae.
We triggered H-alpha imaging of ZTF19abfqlzi with the LCO 2m Spectral imager on the Haleakala Observatory on July 11, 2019 (MJD 58675.56843). In an exposure of 180sec, we obtained a clear detection of the nova (SNR~25) with its calibrated H-alpha magnitude of 17.17+/-0.04 mag. We also obtained Gemini GMOS spectrum (4x450sec exposures) of this nova on 12 July 2019 13:24 UT through the ToO program GN-2019B-Q-221 (PI: Lee, C.H.). Besides the strong Balmer lines, the spectrum clearly shows HeI emission lines, pointing to this 2019 recurrent outburst of M31N 2013-05b as a He/N spectroscopic type, typical of fast-declining novae and consistent with the nature of the previous outburst (Atel #5145).
Light curve of this nova from ANTARES- https://antares.noao.edu/alerts/locus/3551736.