New optical nova candidate in M 31
ATel #2234; P. Podigachoski, M. Henze, W. Pietsch, V. Burwitz (Max-Planck-Institut fuer extraterrestrische Physik, MPE), G. Papamastorakis, P. Reig (FORTH & Dept. of Physics, University of Crete), A. Strigachev (Inst. of Astronomy, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences)
on 9 Oct 2009; 17:01 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 Oct 9.08, 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 and one additional image taken at Oct 9.12. 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 = 00h42m45.76s, Dec = 41d15'57.1" (J2000, accuracy of 0.3"), which is 16" east and 12" south 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 H-alpha image obtained with the same Telescope and camera on 2009 Aug 30.07 (limiting magnitude at the candidate position 18.5).
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 ).
