Spectroscopic Identification of Nova M81 2008 5

ATel #1887; Arne Rau, Mansi M. Kasliwal, Mara Salvato (Caltech)
on 1 Jan 2009; 22:39 UT
Credential Certification: Arne Rau (arne@astro.caltech.edu)

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On UT 2008 Dec 31.40 we observed the candidate nova M81 2008 5 discovered by Hornoch & Sedinova and posted on D. Bishop's nova page (http://www.supernovae.net/novae.html) with the Double Beam Spectrograph on the Palomar Hale telescope. The spectrum displays prominent Balmer and Fe II emission lines suggesting M81 2008 5 to be a Fe novae following the classification of Williams et al. (1994).

The transient was independently discovered on UT 2008 Dec 29.373 by P60-FasTING (Palomar 60-inch Fast Transients In Nearby Galaxies). The P60 localization is RA(J2000) = 09:55:38.150, DEC(J2000)=+69:01:43.63, offset from the nucleus of M81 by 26.7"E, 131.4"S.
Light Curve Summary:

  
Date (UT 2008)| Mag (g-band) |  


  
Nov 10.416    | > 20.9       |  


  
Dec 29.373    | 20.0         |  


  
Dec 30.330    | 20.3         |  


  
Dec 31.328    | 20.3         |