SALT spectroscopic classification of ASASSN-20oh as a classical nova in the LMC
ATel #14203; E. Aydi (MSU), D. A. H. Buckley (SAAO), L. Chomiuk (MSU), E. J. Harvey (LJMU), L. Izzo (DARK), A. Kawash (MSU), M. Orio (UoW/INAF), K. V. Sokolovsky, and J. Strader (MSU)
on 20 Nov 2020; 14:42 UT
Distributed as an Instant Email Notice Novae
Credential Certification: Elias Aydi (eaydi@saao.ac.za)
Subjects: Optical, Binary, Cataclysmic Variable, Nova, Star, Transient, Variables
We report on high-resolution optical spectroscopy of the transient ASASSN-20oh, which was discovered by the All-Sky Automated Survey for SNe (ASAS-SN, Shappee et al. 2014, ApJ, 788, 48) on 2020-11-17.12UT, towards the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC).
On 2020-11-19.87 we obtained a 1200 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 LR mode of HRS which covers the spectral range of 3800-8900 A at a resolution of R=14000. The data were reduced with the SALT HRS MIDAS pipeline (Kniazev et al. 2016, MNRAS 459, 3068).
The spectrum shows broad emission lines of Balmer, O I, Na I, and Fe II. The FWZI of the Balmer lines is larger than 9000 km/s. From the EW of the Na D Galactic interstellar lines, we estimate a Galactic extinction E(B-V) ~ 0.06, consistent with the low extinction towards the LMC. We also identify two Na D features red-shifted by around 250 km/s, consistent with the radial velocity of the LMC. The overall spectrum is that of a very fast classical nova after optical peak.
Follow up observations in all bands are encouraged.
