Discovery of Classical Nova in NGC2403 : P60-NGC2403-090314
ATel #1984; M. M. Kasliwal(1), S. B. Cenko(2), E. O. Ofek(1), R. Quimby(1), A. Rau(3), S. R. Kulkarni(1) [1 : Caltech, 2 : UC Berkeley, 3 : MPE]
on 23 Mar 2009; 02:43 UT
Credential Certification: Mansi Manoj Kasliwal (mansi@astro.caltech.edu)
Subjects: Optical, Cataclysmic Variable, Nova, Transient
On UT 2009 Mar 14.160, P60-FasTING (Palomar 60-inch Fast Transients In Nearby Galaxies) discovered an optical transient in NGC2403 at RA(J2000) = 07:36:35.00, DEC(J2000)=+65:40:20.8, offset from the nucleus by 101.0"W, 252.0"N. P60-NGC2403-090314 had a brightness of g = 20.6 +/- 0.1 at discovery. At peak, on Mar 15.147, the apparent g = 19.6 corresponded to Mg = -8.2, at the distance of NGC2403.
It was not detected by P60 to g > 21.8 on Mar 2.164. Follow-up spectroscopy on Mar 20.145 with the Double Beam Spectrograph on the Palomar Hale telescope reveals prominent Balmer emission features
(H-alpha through H-delta) and allows classification as a classical nova.
