Possible new optical Nova in M 31
ATel #1336; M. Henze, V. Burwitz, W. Pietsch (Max-Planck-Institut fuer extraterrestrische Physik, MPE), A. Updike, D. Hartmann (Clemson University), P. Milne, G. Williams (University of Arizona)
on 18 Dec 2007; 13:12 UT
Distributed as an Instant Email Notice Novae
Credential Certification: Vadim Burwitz (burwitz@mpe.mpg.de)
We report the discovery of an optical nova candidate in M 31 on two 8*60sec stacked R filter CCD images obtained with the robotic 60cm telescope with an E2V CCD (2kx2k) Livermore Optical Transient Imaging System (Super-LOTIS, located at Steward Observatory, Kitt Peak, Arizona, USA). The object was first detected on 2007 Dec 18.19 and 18.30 with respective magnitudes of 17.2 and 17.4.
The position for the nova candidate is RA = 00h41m54.96s, Dec = +41d09'47.3" (J2000, accuracy of 0.3"), which is 9' 17" west and 6' 22" south of the core of M 31. All magnitudes given are obtained from a photometric solution using R magnitudes of the Massey M 31 catalogue. No object is visible (limiting R magnitude of ~18.5) at the position of the nova candidate on Super-LOTIS images of 2007 Dec 18.19 and before.
