H-alpha confirmation of optical transient in M31 as a nova
ATel #16127; A. Valcheva (University of Sofia, Bulgaria), A. Kostov (IA and NAO, BAS, Bulgaria), E. Ovcharov, P. Nedialkov (University of Sofia, Bulgaria)
on 11 Jul 2023; 12:38 UT
Credential Certification: Antoniya Valcheva (valcheva@phys.uni-sofia.bg)
Subjects: Optical, Nova, Transient
We report H-alpha observations of the optical transient in M31 discovered by us on 2023 June 23.9939 UT (ATel #16095) and suggested as a probable nova named M31 2023-06c. The transient is also reported as AT 2023lyd (= MASTER OT J004154.18+411015.9) by MASTER team.
Our observations in narrowband H-alpha (FWHM of 3 nm) were performed with the FoReRo2 focal reducer at 2m RCC telescope at NAO Rozhen, Bulgaria and show strong H-alpha emission in 3x300 sec co-added frames. R-band observations are also available and show that the object is slowly fading. Magnitudes are summarized below:
2023 July 11.00152 UT, Ha=15.44±0.02 (3x300s)
2023 July 11.00993 UT, R=18.16±0.03 (3x120s)
The detection of the strong H-alpha excess for the nova candidate M31N 2023-06c confirms its classification as a nova in M31. Spectroscopic observations are recommended to determine its spectroscopic class.
H-alpha image
This study is financed by the European Union-NextGenerationEU, through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan of the Republic of Bulgaria, project SUMMIT BG-RRP-2.004-0008-C01 in part and by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Bulgaria, National RI Roadmap Project DO1-176/29.07.2022.
