SALT spectroscopic classification of Gaia19edn as a highly reddened classical nova
ATel #13134; E. Aydi (MSU), D. A. H. Buckley (SAAO), L. Chomiuk, A. Kawash (MSU), M. Orio (UoW, INAF), K. V. Sokolovsky, J. Strader (MSU), P. Woudt (UCT)
on 26 Sep 2019; 14:07 UT
Credential Certification: Elias Aydi (eaydi@saao.ac.za)
Subjects: Optical, Binary, Cataclysmic Variable, Nova, Star, Transient, Variables
We report on high-resolution optical spectroscopy of the transient Gaia19edn (aka Eddington), which was discovered by the Gaia Alert team on 2019-09-14.62UT.
On 2019-09-25.79UT, we obtained a 1200 s spectrum using the High Resolution Spectrograph (HRS; Crause et al. 2014, Proc. SPIE, 91476) mounted on the 11m Southern African Large Telescope under the SALT Large Science Program on Transients. The observations were taken in the LR mode of HRS which covers the spectral range of 3800-8900 A at a resolution of R=14000. The data were reduced with the SALT HRS MIDAS pipeline (Kniazev et al. 2016, MNRAS 459, 3068).
The spectrum shows a red continuum and is dominated by broad emission lines of Balmer, O I, and possibly N I and Mg II. Due to the high reddening towards the system, the low S/N in the blue part of the spectrum makes it difficult to identify any lines bluer than 5000 A, other than Hbeta. Halpha is characterized by a FWHM of around 3000 km/s and a P Cygni absorption feature at -3000 +\- 50 km/s. The Na D interstellar absorptions are saturated, consistent with large extinction towards the system. The overall spectrum is that of a highly reddened classical nova eruption.
Follow up observations are strongly encouraged in all bands.
