Swift Ultraviolet Detections of Four Novae in M31
ATel #1673; S. Immler (NASA/CRESST/GSFC), W. Pietsch (MPE), W. Kruse (GWU), M. Freyberg (MPE), M. Henze (MPE), H. Stiele (MPE)
on 22 Aug 2008; 03:50 UT
Credential Certification: Stefan Immler (immler@milkyway.gsfc.nasa.gov)
Subjects: Ultra-Violet, Nova
Referred to by ATel #: 3446
The Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) on board the Swift satellite started observing the central region of M31 in three ultraviolet filters on 2008-05-26.76 UT. The following UVOT magnitudes and 3-sigma upper limits are measured for novae (Henze et al., 2008, ATel #1602) that are within the UVOT field in the uvw1 (181-321nm, 1284 s exposure time), uvm2 (166-268nm, 1400 s), and uvw2 (112-264 nm, 1649 s) filter observations:
Nova uvw1 uvm2 uvw2
M31N2008-03b 18.5±0.2 19.2±0.2 19.4±0.3
M31N2008-05a 17.8±0.1 18.2±0.1 17.9±0.1
M31N2008-05b 16.8±0.1 17.5±0.1 17.2±0.1
M31N2008-05c 19.9±0.2 20.4±0.5 20.3±0.4
M31N2008-06a >19.7 >20.6 >20.3
M31N2008-06b >19.7 >20.6 >20.3
None of the novae is detected in earlier 13.0 ks Swift UVOT uvw2 observations obtained on 2007-06-02, down to a (3-sigma) limiting magnitude of around 21.5.
The above magnitudes are on the UVOT photometric system (Poole et al. 2008, MNRAS, 383, 627) and have not been corrected for extinction.
