Discovery of a Possible Nova in M31
ATel #13198; K. Hornoch (Astronomical Institute, Ondrejov, Czech Republic), G. Carey (Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, UK), H. Kucakova (Astronomical Institute, Charles U., Prague, Czech Republic), J. Kara (Astronomical Institute, Ondrejov, Prague, Czech Republic)
on 17 Oct 2019; 14:02 UT
Credential Certification: Steven Williams (s.williams7@lancaster.ac.uk)
Subjects: Optical, Nova, Transient
We report the discovery of a possible nova in M31 on a co-added 1260-s R-band
CCD frame taken on 2019 Sep. 27.774 UT with the 0.65-m telescope at Ondrejov
and independently on nine 600-s luminance filter CCD frames taken between
Oct. 16.772 and 16.836 UT with the 0.20-m telescope at Bromsgrove.
The object designated PNV J00434950+4126028 is located at R.A. = 0h43m49s.50,
Decl. = +41o26'02".8 (equinox 2000.0), which is 733.9" east and 594.3" north
of the center of M31 (see link to Ondrejov's co-added image below).
The following R-band magnitudes (unless otherwise noted) were obtained:
2019 Aug. 14.977 UT, [21.0; 23.849, 20.4 ± 0.2; 24.998, 19.9 ± 0.3;
27.825, 20.2 ± 0.4; 28.829, 20.2 ± 0.3; 31.112, 20.1 ± 0.3;
Sep. 3.816, 20.0 ± 0.3; 15.163, 19.9 ± 0.3; 20.762, 19.6 ± 0.25;
22.771, 19.7 ± 0.2; 26.970, 19.4 ± 0.2; 27.774, 19.7 ± 0.2;
28.770, 19.6 ± 0.2; Oct. 1.141, 19.7 ± 0.2; 8.031, 19.5 ± 0.2;
10.945, 19.4 ± 0.15; 11.933, 19.1 ± 0.2; 13.938, 19.0 ± 0.2;
16.738, 19.3 ± 0.2; 16.804, 19.2 ± 0.25 (unfiltered, R-band magnitudes
used from comparison stars).
Because the object is rather faint in comparison with most of M31 novae and could be
also an LPV or other type of variable star (located in M31 or also in the Galaxy)
we performed careful searches of available archive images taken by us as well as
plenty of deep images taken by medium-large size telescopes and catalogs to reveal
the nature of the object. The searches provided no counterpart of the object down
to at least R ~23 mag. It favours the object to be a nova in M31 but other types
of large amplitude variable stars aren't ruled out yet. We strongly encourage
spectroscopic classification of the object.
Ondrejov's image
