Recurrent Nova M31N 2008-12a: discovery of the 2020 eruption
ATel #14130; )>, M. J. Darnley (LJMU), A. W. Shafter (SDSU), S. Kafka (AAVSO), S. Williams (Turku) and M. Henze (SDSU), on behalf of the 12a Collaboration
on 31 Oct 2020; 07:32 UT
Distributed as an Instant Email Notice Novae
Credential Certification: Matt Darnley (M.J.Darnley@ljmu.ac.uk)
Subjects: Optical, Nova, Transient
We report the discovery of the predicted 2020 eruption of the remarkable recurrent M31 nova M31N 2008-12a (see ATels #5607, #6527, #7964, #9848, #11116, #12177, #13269 for earlier detections as well as Darnley et al. 2014, 2015, 2016 and Henze et al. 2014, 2015a, 2015b, 2018, for comprehensive multi-wavelength studies of previous eruptions).
The nova was clearly detected on 2020 Oct 30.893 (UT) using a single 60s Sloan-like r'-band observation obtained with the 2m fully robotic Liverpool Telescope. The discovery magnitude is 18.39 ± 0.02. We will continue to monitor the nova light curve and strongly encourage additional follow-up observations.
This is the thirteenth consecutive annual eruption of M31N 2008-12a and this marks the third eruption discovery by the Liverpool Telescope.
