New optical nova candidate in M 31
ATel #2105; W. Pietsch, M. Henze, V. Burwitz (Max-Planck-Institut fuer extraterrestrische Physik, MPE), A. Liakos (Dept. Physics, University of Athens), D. Hatzidimitriou (Dept. of Physics, University of Crete) and P. Niarchos (Dept. Physics, University of Athens), G. Sala, J. Jose, J. Casanova (UPC-IEEC), M. Hernanz, C. Ferri (CSIC-IEEC)
on 1 Jul 2009; 16:18 UT
Credential Certification: Wolfgang Pietsch (wnp@mpe.mpg.de)
We report the discovery of a possible nova in M 31 on two 10x60s stacked unfiltered CCD images obtained a 40-cm Cassegrain telescope with a focal reducer (F/5.1) equipped with a 2184 x 1472 pixel ST-10XME CCD camera (pixel size 6.8 microns square) at the Athens University Observatory, Greece on 2009 June 30.045 UT and July 1.049 UT with magnitudes of 17.7 and 17.5, respectively. The position of the nova candidate is RA = 00h42m10.36s, Dec = +41o12'19.9" (J2000, accuracy 0.3"), which is 383" west and 229" south of the core of M 31. No object is visible (limiting magnitude of ~18.2) on images with the same camera on June 27.048, on DSS2 images and images of the local group survey (Massey et al. 2006, AJ, 131, 2478). There is no entry in VizieR/CDS for this object and no minor planet could be found on this position using the MPC/IAU Minor Planet Checker (see http://scully.harvard.edu/~cgi/CheckMP ).
The nova candidate was also discovered on 10x80s stacked R filter CCD images, obtained with the 80 cm Ritchey-Chretien F/9.6 Joan Oro telescope at Observatori Astronomic del Montsec, owned by the Consorci del Montsec and operated by the Institut d'Estudis Espacials de Catalunya, Spain,
using a Finger Lakes PL4240-1-BI CCD Camera (with a Class 1 Basic Broadband coated 2k x 2k chip with 13.5 microns sq. pixels) on 2009 June 30.114 UT with a magnitude of 17.8. The position of the nova candidate is RA = 00h42m10.37s, Dec = +41o12'19.8" (J2000, accuracy 0.2").
All magnitudes given are obtained from a photometric solution using R magnitudes of the Local Group Survey M 31 catalogue (Massey et al. 2006).
