Discovery of Twenty One Optical Transients by CFHT-COVET

ATel #1936; M. M. Kasliwal (Caltech), R. Quimby (Caltech), M. H. van Kerkwijk (UToronto), S. R. Kulkarni (Caltech), D. A. Howell (LCOGT), R. Breton (UToronto)
on 21 Feb 2009; 18:16 UT
Distributed as an Instant Email Notice Transients
Credential Certification: Mansi Manoj Kasliwal (mansi@astro.caltech.edu)

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After completion of a pilot run in 2008 (e.g., ATEL#1579,ATEL#1552), CFHT-COVET (Coma and Virgo Exploration for Transients) begins in 2009. The following optical transients were discovered on UT 2009 Feb 18 and 19 :

  
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    Name     |  RA (J2000) | DEC (J2000) |   Mag (r')|    Offset     | Host Redshift| Type     | 


  
             |             |             |02/18,02/19|  from Host    |              |          | 


  
-------------+-------------+-------------+-----------+---------------+--------------+----------+ 


  
COVET-090218A| 12:26:04.56 | +12:47:03.3 | 22.0,21.8 | N.A.          | N.A.         | SN?/AGN? | 


  
COVET-090218B| 12:43:09.86 | +11:41:32.2 | 23.5,23.2 | N.A.          | N.A.         | SN?/AGN? | 


  
COVET-090218C| 12:31:37.43 | +12:56:46.5 | 22.5,22.7 | 0.14"W,0.01"N | 0.68 (phot-z)| SN?      | 


  
COVET-090218D| 12:31:42.46 | +14:14:33.1 | 23.0,23.0 | 0.03"W,0.06"N | Not in SDSS  | SN?/AGN? | 


  
COVET-090218E| 12:30:31.23 | +14:11:04.9 | 22.0,21.9 | 0.08"E,0.07"N | 0.16 (phot-z)| SN?      | 


  
COVET-090218F| 12:30:30.34 | +14:03:00.8 | 23.1,23.1 | 0.13"E,0.09"S |0.0004(phot-z)| SN?      | 


  
COVET-090218G| 12:34:02.55 | +13:08:17.2 | 22.4,22.6 | 0.27"E,0.06"N | 0.21 (phot-z)| SN?      | 


  
COVET-090218H| 12:33:33.53 | +13:15:24.9 | 21.6,21.7 | 0.02"W,0.02"N | 0.12 (phot-z)| SN?/AGN? | 


  
COVET-090218I| 12:34:06.53 | +08:30:28.9 | 23.2,23.1 | 1.18"E,0.07"N | 0.34 (phot-z)| SN?      | 


  
COVET-090218J| 12:31:16.83 | +08:19:02.7 | 21.3,21.3 | 0.01"W,0.07"N | 0.14 (phot-z)| AGN?/SN? | 


  
COVET-090218K| 12:33:54.33 | +12:37:50.7 | 22.5,22.5 | N.A.          | N.A.         | SN?/AGN? | 


  
COVET-090218L| 12:34:59.06 | +12:53:32.4 | 22.5,22.6 | 0.02"W,0.14"N | 0.39 (phot-z)| SN?      | 


  
COVET-090218M| 12:29:24.71 | +12:40:16.7 | 22.7,22.4 | 0.06"W,0.07"S | Not in SDSS  | SN?/AGN? | 


  
COVET-090218N| 12:24:59.34 | +12:41:49.1 | 23.2,23.1 | 0.01"W,0.07"N | Not in SDSS  | SN?/AGN? | 


  
COVET-090218O| 12:28:38.53 | +12:20:52.9 | 23.2,23.1 | 0.01"E,0.01"N | Not in SDSS  | SN?/AGN? | 


  
COVET-090219A| 12:43:38.87 | +11:30:53.9 | 23.5,22.9 |16.0"W,136.0"S | M60 (z=0.004)| Nova?    | 


  
COVET-090219B| 12:27:17.71 | +08:12:53.0 | 23.5,23.4 | N.A.          | near few gals| SN?/Nova?| 


  
COVET-090219C| 12:29:09.99 | +12:18:27.9 | 23.8,23.6 | 0.13"E,0.45"N | 0.14 (phot-z)| SN?      | 


  
COVET-090219D| 12:32:09.22 | +14:10:12.8 | 23.3,23.4 | 0.06"E,0.00"S |0.0016(phot-z)| SN?/AGN? | 


  
COVET-090219E| 12:32:29.60 | +13:59:13.9 | 23.3,23.0 | 0.08"E,0.13"N | 0.04 (phot-z)| SN?      | 


  
COVET-090220F| 12:36:18.52 | +13:14:49.9 | 23.6,23.3 | 0.05"W,0.19"S | 0.29 (phot-z)| SN?      | 


  
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None of the above transients were detected during the COVET pilot run from Mar-Jun 2008. The tentative classification above between SN and AGN is based on offset between the transient and the host, although the lack of historical evidence of variability may suggest that SN is more likely. All photometric redshifts (phot-z) have been obtained from the SDSS catalog. Some transients do not have a host star/galaxy in our reference imaging and hence the host columns are marked "N.A.". COVET-090219A is likely a nova on the outskirts of M60. COVET-090219B is surrounded by several potential host galaxies (the lowest redshift in this set has z=0.005). We encourage spectroscopic follow-up for classification. We thank the CFHT-QSO staff for service observing.