H-alpha emission detected from the nova candidates AT2025qea and AT2025qlt in M31
ATel #17315; A. Valcheva and M. Petkova (Sofia University, Bulgaria)
on 30 Jul 2025; 23:06 UT
Credential Certification: Antoniya Valcheva (valcheva@phys.uni-sofia.bg)
Subjects: Optical, Nova, Transient
We report the detection of H-alpha emission from two M31 nova candidates:
AT2025qea (= PNV J00425282+4105317) discovered on June 28.13154, 2025 UT by
J. Zhao and AT2025qlt (= PNV J00433254+4132306) discovered on July
05.13185, 2025 UT by J. Zhao.
Our observations were carried out using narrowband H-alpha (FWHM of 3 nm) and R filter with the focal reducer FoReRo2 mounted on the 2m RCC telescope at Rozhen NAO, Bulgaria. The magnitudes in H-alpha were derived from 3x200 sec co-added frames and in R-band from 3x100 sec. Photometric calibration was performed using standard stars from Massey et al.(2007, 2016). The magnitudes are shown below:
AT2025qea
2025 Jul 26.977 UT, H-alpha=18.30 ± 0.05 mag
2025 Jul 26.997 UT, R=21.2 ± 0.2 mag
AT2025qlt
2025 Jul 26.985 UT, H-alpha=18.97 ± 0.10 mag
2025 Jul 27.001 UT, R=20.75 ± 0.15 mag
The two transients are now barely visible in R-band, however, the presence of H-alpha emission from both sources supports their classification as novae in M31.
The images of AT2025qea and AT2025qlt are available here and here, respectively.
The study was supported by the National RI Roadmap Project DO1-326/04.12.2023 with the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Bulgaria.
