Discovery of four nova candidates in Virgo Cluster by CFHT-COVET
ATel #2031; M. M. Kasliwal (Caltech), R. Quimby (Caltech), M. H. van Kerkwijk (UToronto), S. R. Kulkarni (Caltech), D. A. Howell (LCOGT/UCSB), R. P. Breton (UToronto)
on 24 Apr 2009; 20:15 UT
Distributed as an Instant Email Notice Transients
Credential Certification: Mansi Manoj Kasliwal (mansi@astro.caltech.edu)
Subjects: Optical, Request for Observations, Cataclysmic Variable, Nova, Transient
Continued search by CFHT-COVET (ATEL#1936) reveals four possible
nova candidates in the Virgo Cluster:
+-------------+-----------+-----------+----+-----+---------------+
| Name | RA (J2000)|DEC (J2000)|Mag |Host?| Offset |
| | | |(r')| | from Host |
+-------------+-----------+-----------+----+-----+---------------+
|COVET-090420A|12:24:54.81|+12:50:24.1|21.5| M84 |130.6"W,168.8"S|
|COVET-090423A|12:43:42.54|+11:33:00.3|21.8| M60 |37.7"E, 9.4"S |
|COVET-090423B|12:30:52.92|+12:21:31.4|22.8| M87 |51.3"E, 116.8"S|
|COVET-090423C|12:30:37.92|+12:22:41.3|22.4| M87 |168.5"W,46.8"S |
+-------------+-----------+-----------+----+-----+---------------+
We suggest these are classical nova candidates based on spatial
coincidence with a Virgo member, corresponding absolute magnitude
and lack of compact source in the reference. Comparing against a map of the
surface brightness of the Virgo core (Mihos et al. 2005), the locations
of COVET-090420A, COVET-090423B and COVET-090423C correspond to 23.5,22 and
23 mag/sq arcsec respectively. This suggests each candidate is associated
with the galaxy. We thank Chris Mihos for providing us the map data.
Spectroscopic confirmation is encouraged.
