Spectroscopic confirmation of TCP J17183380-3123452 as a new Galactic nova in Scorpius
ATel #16246; Jay Strader (Michigan St), Kirill Sokolovsky (Illinois), Ryan Urquhart, Elias Aydi, Laura Chomiuk (Michigan St)
on 19 Sep 2023; 16:25 UT
Credential Certification: Jay Strader (strader@pa.msu.edu)
We report optical spectroscopy of TCP J17183380-3123452, which was first detected by BraTS on UT 2023-09-01.98. We recover significant detections via ATLAS forced photometry (https://fallingstar-data.com) in its orange filter starting on 2023-08-31.04, at o ~ 13.4. We also find clear non-detections on 2023-08-29.79 (o > 17.6) and at earlier epochs.
On 2023-09-16.99 we obtained a low-resolution spectrum of this source using the Goodman spectrograph on the 4.1 m SOAR telescope, covering the wavelength range 4000-8000 A. The spectrum has a red continuum with strong broad flat-topped emission lines. The strongest lines are H-alpha (FWHM about 2220 km/s) and O I, followed by a large number of Fe II lines. This spectrum is consistent with a moderately reddened classical nova.
While the nova is saturated in our acquisition image, making precise astrometry challenging, it appears to be a close astrometric match to a star that is cataloged in VVV with z=19.2 mag, located at J2000 (epoch 2012.0) coordinates 17:18:33.82 -31:23:46.2.
Based on observations obtained at the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope, which is a joint project of the Ministerio da Ciencia, Tecnologia e Inovacoes do Brasil (MCTI/LNA), the US National Science Foundation's NOIRLab, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), and Michigan State University (MSU).
