New optical nova candidate in M 31
ATel #2147; W. Pietsch, F. Kaduk, M. Henze, V. Burwitz (Max-Planck-Institut fuer extraterrestrische Physik, MPE), G. Papamastorakis, P. Reig, A. Strigachev (Dept. of Physics, University of Crete)
on 5 Aug 2009; 16:34 UT
Credential Certification: Wolfgang Pietsch (wnp@mpe.mpg.de)
We report the discovery of a new nova candidate in M 31 on three consecutive dithered stacked CCD images, obtained on 2009 Aug 4.03, with the 1.3m Ritchey Chretien f/7.5 telescope at Skinakas Observatory, Crete, Greece, using an Andor DZ436-BV CCD Camera (with a Marconi 2k x 2k chip with 13.5 microns sq. pixels) and a broad (75\AA) H-alpha filter. The object is clearly visible on the three individual images. We determined a magnitude of 17.2 from a photometric solution using R magnitudes (see also ATel #1602) of the Local Group Survey M 31 catalogue (Massey et al. 2006, AJ, 131, 2478). The position obtained for the nova candidate is RA = 00h42m58.06s, Dec = 41d17'29.8" (J2000, accuracy of 0.3"), which is 155" east and 81" north of the core of M 31. The limiting magnitude at the candidate position is 18.5. No object is visible at the nova position on an R image obtained with the same Telescope and camera on 2009 July 24.06 (limiting magnitude at the candidate position 19.0).
Furthermore, we report H-alpha photometry using the Skinakas camera as above, of nova M31N 2008-07a (2009 Aug 4.04; 18.1, compare ATels #1609, #1773), and the nova candidates M31N 2009-02b (2009 Aug 4.06; 18.0, compare ATel #1935), M31N 2009-05a (2009 Aug 4.07; 16.3), and M31N 2009-05b (2009 Aug 4.06; 17.6). The H-alpha detection identifies the candidates as novae.
All magnitudes given are obtained from a photometric solution using R magnitudes of the Local Group Survey M 31 catalogue (see above). 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 ).
