Spectroscopic classification of M31N 2019-08a as a nova in M31
ATel #12999; S. C. Williams (Lancaster), K. Hornoch (Ondrejov), M. J. Darnley (LJMU), M. W. Healy (LJMU), F. J. Murphy-Glaysher (LJMU), C. L. Ransome (LJMU), H. Kucakova (Ondrejov)
on 7 Aug 2019; 19:52 UT
Credential Certification: Steven Williams (s.williams7@lancaster.ac.uk)
Subjects: Optical, Nova, Transient
We obtained a spectrum of the transient M31N 2019-08a (PNV J00423828+4113423 , AT2019msk; ATel #12989) with the SPRAT spectrograph (resolution R ~ 350; Piascik et al. 2014) on the 2-m Liverpool Telescope (LT; Steele et al. 2004) on 2019 Aug 7.14 UT.
The spectrum shows Balmer emission lines (Hα, Hβ, Hγ), along with Na I D, Fe II (e.g. 74 multiplet) and N II (5679 Å) emission lines. The Na I D and N II lines show clear P-Cygni profiles. The majority of other lines also show tentative evidence of P-Cygni profiles, although the S/N is relatively poor.
We also report additional R-band photometry for the nova obtained using
the 0.65-m telescope at Ondrejov: 2019 Aug. 5.861 UT, 16.01 ± 0.08; 6.862, 16.2 ± 0.1. In addition, a link to the Ondrejov independent discovery image was inadvertently missed off ATel #12989, so we include it here, as well as thanking M. Wolf for acquiring images on Aug. 2.037 UT.
In summary, these observations confirm that M31N 2019-08a is an Fe II-type nova in M31, around peak brightness.
Ondrejov discovery image
