Discovery of Possible Nova in M31 : P60-M31-080723
ATel #1627; M. M. Kasliwal, S. B. Cenko, A. Rau, E. O. Ofek, R. Quimby, S. R. Kulkarni (Caltech)
on 23 Jul 2008; 20:45 UT
Distributed as an Instant Email Notice Transients
Credential Certification: Mansi Manoj Kasliwal (mansi@astro.caltech.edu)
Subjects: Infra-Red, Optical, X-ray, Request for Observations, Cataclysmic Variable, Nova, Transient
On UT 2008 July 23.33, P60-FasTING (Palomar 60-inch Fast Transients In Nearby Galaxies) discovered a faint optical transient in M31 at RA(J2000)=00:43:27.28, DEC(J2000) = +41:10:03.3. P60-M31-080723 has a brightness of g = 19.3 +/- 0.2 (photometric calibration wrt USNO-B) and it is offset by 8.1'E,6.1'S from the center of M31. It was also marginally detected on July 22.32 at g = 19.8 +/- 0.2. It was not detected on the previous several nights with 3-sigma upper limits in table below. There is no known counterpart in SIMBAD. At the distance of M31, this corresponds to an absolute magnitude, Mg = -5.5 (assuming a distance modulus of 24.76, B. Tully, pers. comm.). This could be a slowly rising nova.
Date(UT 2008) | g-mag |
--------------+---------------+
Jul 18.33 | >20.2 |
Jul 19.32 | >20.9 |
Jul 21.32 | >20.2 |
Jul 22.32 | 19.8 +/- 0.2 |
Jul 23.33 | 19.3 +/- 0.2 |
