Discovery of a Probable Nova in M81

ATel #13889; K. Hornoch, H. Kucakova (Ondrejov), S. C. Williams (Turku), G. Sala, J. Jose (UPC-IEEC), B. Stecklum (TLS), M. J. Darnley (LJMU), A. Kaur (PSU), D. H. Hartmann (Clemson), A. W. Shafter (SDSU)
on 23 Jul 2020; 08:59 UT
Credential Certification: Steven Williams (steven.williams@utu.fi)

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The M81 nova monitoring collaboration reports the discovery of a probable nova in M81 on a co-added 1800-s unfiltered CCD frame taken on 2020 Jul. 22.865 UT with the 0.65-m telescope at Ondrejov. The object is faintly visible also on a prediscovery co-added 1200-s unfiltered CCD frame taken on 2020 Jul. 17.866 UT with the same instrumentation.

The object designated PNV J09555439+6900502 is located at R.A. = 9h55m54s.39, Decl. = +69o00'50".2 (equinox 2000.0), which is 113.8" east and 184.9" south of the center of M81 (see link to discovery image below).

Here we list the observing dates and corresponding photometry:

 
  Date [UT]    |  Mag   | Err  | Filter  | Telescope 
 
2020-07-14.877 | <21.2  |      | C       | OND  
2020-07-17.866 |  20.2  | 0.3  | C       | OND  
2020-07-22.865 |  19.6  | 0.15 | C       | OND  
 

The OND 0.65-m is a reflecting telescope at the Ondrejov observatory operated jointly by the Astronomical Institute of ASCR and the Astronomical Institute of the Charles University of Prague, Czech Republic. It uses a Moravian Instruments G2-3200 CCD camera (with a Kodak KAF-3200ME sensor and standard BVRI photometric filters) mounted at the prime focus. The unfiltered OND photometry was calibrated against R-band comparison stars from Perelmuter & Racine (1995).

Discovery image