GIT and HCT observations of the nova AT2023prq / ZTF23aaxzvrr near M31
ATel #16198; Judhajeet Basu, Vishwajeet Swain, Rishabh S. Teja, Harsh Kumar, Sudhanshu Barway, G. C. Anupama, Varun Bhalerao
on 21 Aug 2023; 17:26 UT
Distributed as an Instant Email Notice Novae
Credential Certification: Sudhanshu Barway (sudhanshu.barway@iiap.res.in)
We report optical photometric and spectroscopic observations of the transient ZTF23aaxzvrr (https://www.wis-tns.org/object/2023prq) discovered by the ZTF survey at a r band magnitude of 17.13 on 15 Aug 2023 at 10:52:59.998 UT.
Follow-up observations using the GROWTH-India Telescope (GIT, Kumar et al. 2022) on 2023 August 17 at 22:51:07 UT indicated the object to be red with a g'-r' ~ 0.5. The colour was persistent as the object decayed rapidly until August 20 18:19:02 UT. We are monitoring AT2023prq / ZTF23aaxzvrr with GIT.
We obtained a spectrum of this object using HCT HFOSC on 19th August which showed prominent features of H Balmer lines at 6563A and 4861A, and the He I line at 5876A. These lines are also seen in the spectra reported in TNS by Pearly et al on 18th Aug 2023, who classified it as a nova (https://www.wis-tns.org/object/2023prq/classification-cert). The FWHM of the H alpha line profile was found to be around 2300 km/s on 19th Aug, approximately 4 days after discovery.
The decline rates estimated using linear fits are 0.65 and 0.77 mag/day in r' and g' filters respectively. The t2 time determined for this nova from the r' band light curve is 3.1 days which would classify it as a 'very fast' nova.
The source is located 46 kpc away from the centre of M31 but astoundingly the spectral and photometric features are typical of M31 novae. Further observations of this fast-fading transient are encouraged to examine its connection with M31, if any.
GIT is a 70-cm telescope with a 0.7-degree field of view, set up by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) with funding from DST-SERB and IUSSTF. It is located at the Indian Astronomical Observatory (Hanle), operated by IIA. We acknowledge funding by the IITB alumni batch of 1994, which partially supports the operations of the telescope. Telescope technical details are available at https://sites.google.com/view/growthindia/. We thank the HCT staff for their support during the observations. The Indian Astronomical Observatory is operated by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru, India.
