SALT spectroscopic classification of MGAB-V207 as a classical nova

ATel #13867; E. Aydi (MSU), D. A. H. Buckley (SAAO), L. Chomiuk (MSU), A. Kawash (MSU), M. Orio (UoW/INAF), K. V. Sokolovsky, J. Strader (MSU), P. Schmeer (AAVSO), K. Z. Stanek, C. S. Kochanek (OSU), and B. J. Shappee (Univ. of Hawaii)
on 16 Jul 2020; 10:17 UT
Distributed as an Instant Email Notice Novae
Credential Certification: Elias Aydi (eaydi@saao.ac.za)

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We report on high-resolution optical spectroscopy of the bright transient in Reticulum, associated with MGAB-V207 and which was discovered by Robert H. McNaught on 2020-07-15.590 UT (CBET 4811) at 5th magnitude.

On 2020-07-16.17.UT we obtained a 500 s spectrum using the High Resolution Spectrograph (HRS; Crause et al. 2014, Proc. SPIE, 91476) mounted on the 11m Southern African Large Telescope as part of the SALT Large Science Program on Transients. The observations were taken in the HR mode of HRS, which covers the spectral range of 3800-8900 A at a resolution of R=67000. The data were reduced with the SALT HRS MIDAS pipeline (Kniazev et al. 2016, MNRAS 459, 3068).

The spectrum shows broad, rectangular emission lines of Balmer, O I, and Fe II. Some of the bright lines are saturated in the spectrum. The emission lines are accompanied by P Cygni absorption features at around -2700 km/s. The spectrum resembles that of a classical nova, likely after optical peak.

Based on recent ASAS-SN Sky Patrol (Shappee et al. 2014ApJ...788...48S and Kochanek et al. 2017PASP..129j4502K) light curve and data: https://asas-sn.osu.edu/light_curves/f55224a2-57e5-46b7-bb67-d354e29fc3e2 the eruption might have started as early as 2020-07-04.18. Follow up observations in all bands are encouraged.