Optical transient (ZTF19abdooly) near the Galactic Plane
ATel #12946; 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 18 Jul 2019; 18:37 UT
Credential Certification: Monika Soraisam (soraisam@noao.edu)
Subjects: Optical, Cataclysmic Variable, Nova, Transient
We report here an optical transient from the public ZTF survey, located near the Galactic Plane, l=37.282976 and b=-6.517130 (deg), flagged by a filter on the ANTARES alert-broker (https://antares.noao.edu/) customized to find transients. The co-ordinates of this source from ANTARES are RA 19h22m33.90s, DEC +00d52m42.22s (J2000). The first ZTF detection of this source was on 4 July 2019 (MJD 58668.295035) with a magnitude of g=20.12+/-0.22. Following a rise to g=18.65+/-0.07 and R=18.43+/-0.07 one day later, its light curve appeared to be at standstill/plateau phase (between 18.5 and 19 mag) for around 10 days.
The light curve and (bluer) color evolution indicates a possible nova or a dwarf nova (super)outburst. However, H-alpha follow-up observation on 13 July 2019 (MJD 58678.329883) with the LCO 2m Spectral Imager on the Haleakala Observatory reveals weak to no H-alpha emission (in 180sec exposure).
We encourage follow-up spectroscopic observations of this source.
Light curve from ANTARES can be accessed at https://antares.noao.edu/alerts/locus/3458602.
