Spectroscopic classification of ZTF20abqhsxb as a possible nova in M31
ATel #13952; Monika Soraisam (NCSA/UIUC), Kevin McKinnon, Rafael Nunez, Puragra Guhathakurta, Sagnick Mukherjee, Stephanie Figuereo (UCSC), Timotheus Marquez (UCSB), Chien-Hsiu Lee, Thomas Matheson (NOIR Lab), Sarah DeSantis (Steward)
on 18 Aug 2020; 22:21 UT
Credential Certification: Monika Soraisam (soraisam@illinois.edu)
Subjects: Optical, Nova, Transient
Referred to by ATel #: 14109, 14827, 14830, 14970, 14975, 15156, 15523, 15554, 15558, 15562, 15652, 15773, 15785, 16333, 16335
On behalf of the Spectroscopic Analysis of Luminous Variables and Transients in our Neighbor (SALVATION) project, we report the spectroscopic observation of the transient ZTF20abqhsxb/AT2020qxo (RA 0h41m59.60s, DEC +41d00m48.48s) in M31. It was flagged by a filter on the ANTARES alert-broker (https://antares.noirlab.edu/) customized to find promising stellar explosive events from the ZTF public alert stream. The light curve (https://antares.noirlab.edu/loci/ANT2020vqghm) of the object showed a rapid linear rise and (initial) decline (~1.5 mag in 3 days).
On 2020 Aug 14 UT, we obtained the spectrum of this source with the Kast double spectrograph on the Shane 3 m telescope at Lick Observatory. The spectrum shows prominent Balmer emission lines, with the FWHM of the H-alpha line around 1100km/s and O I with a P Cygni profile. The spectrum is thus consistent with a nova nature of the transient in M31. The latest photometric detections from ZTF show the source has re-brightened by around 0.5 mag from a minimum a week back. We continue monitoring the evolution of this transient.
