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Optical Nova Candidate in M 31

ATel #1546; M. Henze (Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, MPE), V. Burwitz (MPE), W. Pietsch (MPE), A. Updike (Clemson University, CU), P. Milne, G. Williams (University of Arizona), D. H. Hartmann (CU)
on 27 May 2008; 17:28 UT
Credential Certification: Wolfgang Pietsch (wnp@mpe.mpg.de)

Subjects: Optical, Nova

Referred to by ATel #: 1568

We report the discovery of an optical nova candidate in M 31 on two 8x60s stacked R filter CCD images obtained with the robotic 60cm telescope with an E2V CCD (2kx2k) of the Livermore Optical Transient Imaging System (Super-LOTIS, located at Steward Observatory, Kitt Peak, Arizona, USA).
The object was first detected on 2008 May 26.45 and 27.45 UT with respective magnitudes of 17.0 and 17.5. The position for the nova candidate is RA = 00h43m12.08s, Dec = +41d19'15.8" (J2000, accuracy of 0.3"), which is 5'13" east and 3'6" north of the core of M 31.
All magnitudes given are obtained from a photometric solution using R magnitudes of the Local Group Survey M 31 catalogue (Massey et al. 2006, AJ, 131, 2478). No object is visible at the position of the nova candidate on Super-LOTIS images of 2008 May 16.45 UT (limiting R magnitude of ~17.5) and 2008 February 01.09 UT (limiting R magnitude of ~19.5). There is no entry in VizieR/CDS for this object and no minor planet could be found on this position using the MPC/IAU Minor Planet Checker (see http://scully.harvard.edu/~cgi/CheckMP ).