Detection of H-alpha emission from M31 nova candidate AT2024rkz
ATel #16836; A. Valcheva (University of Sofia, Bulgaria), A. Kurtenkov, D. Stefanova (IANAO, BAS, Bulgaria)
on 30 Sep 2024; 14:12 UT
Credential Certification: Antoniya Valcheva (valcheva@phys.uni-sofia.bg)
Subjects: Optical, Nova, Transient
We report the detection of strong H-alpha emission from M31 nova candidate AT2024rkz (= PNV J00424853+4120087) discovered on Aug 6.142, 2024 UT by J. Zhao. The prediscovery observations by Hornoch et al. (ATel #16764) showed that AT2024rkz very slowly reached its optical maximum.
Our observations were carried out with the focal reducer FoReRo2 mounted at the 2m RCC telescope at Rozhen NAO, Bulgaria, in H-alpha (FWHM of 3 nm) and R filter. AT2024rkz is very bright in H-alpha and still visible in R (see here the image). The magnitudes are shown below:
# Date UT, Filter Magnitude Error, Exposures:
2024 Sep 27.803 UT, H-alpha = 16.42 ± 0.02 mag, 5x300 sec
2024 Sep 27.782 UT, R = 19.70 ± 0.20 mag, 5x120 sec
The strong H-alpha emission detected from AT2024rkz around 50 days after the optical maximum confirms that the transient is a nova in M31.
The study was partially supported by the National RI Roadmap Project DO1-326/04.12.2023 with Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Bulgaria.
