Optical Nova Candidate in M31

ATel #2176; E. Ovcharov (SU, Sofia), A. Valcheva (SU, Sofia), Ts. Georgiev (IA, Sofia), A. Kostov (IA, Sofia), Y. Nikolov (IA, Sofia), P. Nedialkov (SU, Sofia)
on 27 Aug 2009; 14:27 UT
Credential Certification: Petko Nedialkov (japet@phys.uni-sofia.bg)

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We report the discovery of a probable nova located at RA(2000) = 00h42m36.23s, Dec(2000) = +41d18'01.6", which is 87.5" west and 113.1" north of the center of M31. The images are obtained with the 50/70cm Schmidt telescope at NAO Rozhen, Bulgaria. The available BVR-magnitudes are:

2009 August 25.89583 UT, R = 18.95 +/- 0.26 (from 3x300sec co-added CCD images)
2009 August 26.07986 UT, R = 18.61 +/- 0.15 (from 5x300sec co-added CCD images)
2009 August 26.89931 UT, R = 18.15 +/- 0.12 (from 3x300sec co-added CCD images)
2009 August 27.08160 UT, R = 18.07 +/- 0.10 (from 3x300sec co-added CCD images)
2009 August 27.07396 UT, B = 18.24 +/- 0.09 (300sec CCD image)
2009 August 27.07118 UT, V = 18.23 +/- 0.11 (300sec CCD image)

The nearest object at distance of 1.13 arcsec is J004236.33+411801.5 (M31 and M33 UBVRI photometry (Massey et al., 2006)) with R-band magnitude of 19.96.

Furthermore, we report additional photometry for the novae candidates 2009-08a (ATel #2147), 2009-08b (ATel #2166) and 2009-08c (ATel #2165) (see also http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/CBAT_M31.html ) determined from the same images:

Nova 2009-08a
2009 August 25.89583 UT, R = 18.98 +/- 0.29
2009 August 26.07986 UT, R = 19.15 +/- 0.27
On the other images the nova in not visible (limiting magnitude ~19.5)

Nova 2009-08b
2009 August 25.89583 UT, R = 18.86 +/- 0.08
2009 August 26.07986 UT, R = 18.95 +/- 0.07
2009 August 26.89931 UT, R = 18.92 +/- 0.09
2009 August 27.08160 UT, R = 19.24 +/- 0.11
2009 August 27.07118 UT, V = 19.69 +/- 0.18

Nova 2009-08c
2009 August 25.89583 UT, R = 17.50 +/- 0.15
2009 August 26.07986 UT, R = 17.48 +/- 0.12
2009 August 26.89931 UT, R = 17.44 +/- 0.17
2009 August 27.08160 UT, R = 17.56 +/- 0.15
2009 August 27.07396 UT, B = 18.74 +/- 0.26
2009 August 27.07118 UT, V = 18.09 +/- 0.21