Independent confirmation of AT2019qwf as a Galactic nova with the Lick Shane telescope

ATel #13149; Chien-Hsiu Lee (NOAO), Monika Soraisam (NOAO), Gautham Narayan (UIUC), Thomas Matheson (NOAO), Abhijit Saha (NOAO), Arizona-NOAO Temporal Analysis and Response to Events System (ANTARES) team, Thomas G. Brink, Kishore C. Patra, Thomas de Jaeger, WeiKang Zheng, Benjamin E. Stahl, Alexei V. Filippenko (UC Berkeley)
on 1 Oct 2019; 06:29 UT
Credential Certification: Chien-Hsiu Lee (lee@noao.edu)

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We report independent spectroscopic observations of AT2019qwf. It was first detected by ZTF as ZTF19abyukuy on Sep. 15, 2019 UT and was flagged and supplied by ANTARES (antares.noao.edu) and our customized filter as a young transient in the Galactic plane. We obtain spectroscopic observations with the Kast spectrograph on the 3 m Shane telescope at Lick Observatory on Sep. 21, 2019 UT. Thanks to the high resolution and broad wavelength coverage (3600 - 10,800 Ang), we were able to detect emission lines of H-alpha, H-beta, O I (at 7774, 8446, and 9266 Ang), several members of the Paschen series between 8500 and 10,050 Ang (Pa-delta to Pa-mu), and apparent yet unidentified emission lines at 8686, 9388 and 10,113 Ang. In addition, from the H-alpha emission line, we derive a FWHM of 820 km/s, which is typical of a nova eruption. These data thus suggest that AT2019qwf is a Galactic nova. It is currently at g = 17.8 mag and R = 15.1 mag; the light curve can be seen at https://antares.noao.edu/alerts/locus/5430018 .