New optical nova candidate in M 31
ATel #2308; W. Pietsch, P. Podigachoski, F. Haberl, M. Henze, V. Burwitz (Max-Planck-Institut fuer extraterrestrische Physik, MPE), A. Updike (Clemson University, CU), P. Milne, G. Williams (University of Arizona), D. H. Hartmann (CU)
on 21 Nov 2009; 20:40 UT
Credential Certification: Wolfgang Pietsch (wnp@mpe.mpg.de)
Subjects: Optical, Ultra-Violet, Nova
We report the discovery of a possible nova in M 31 on two 12x60s stacked R filter CCD images obtained with the robotic 60cm telescope with an E2V CCD (2kx2k, 13.5 micron sq. pixels) of the Livermore Optical Transient Imaging System (Super-LOTIS, located at Steward Observatory,
Kitt Peak, Arizona, USA). The object was first detected on 2009 November 20.25 and 21.14 UT with respective magnitudes of 18.7 and 18.5. The position for the nova candidate is RA = 00h42m35.31s, Dec = +41d12'59.1"(J2000, accuracy of 0.4"), which is 102" west and 190" south of the core of M
31. All magnitudes given are obtained from a photometric solution using R magnitudes of the Local Group Survey M 31 catalogue (Massey et al. 2006, AJ 131, 2478). No object is visible at the position of the nova candidate on a Super-LOTIS image of 2009 November 19.25 UT (limiting R magnitude at the position of 19.0). 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 object is already detected in UV with the Swift Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) UVW2 (112-264nm) filter in monitoring observations for nova M31N 2009-10b on 2009 November 18.67 UT at 18.8+-0.1 mag (2 days before the optical detection). In the Swift UVOT uvw2 observations on November 15.26 and in earlier observations no object was visible at the position down to a (3-sigma) limiting magnitude of around 20.5. The above magnitudes are on the UVOT photometric system (Poole et al. 2008, MNRAS, 383, 627) and have not been corrected for extinction. We wish to
thank the Swift team for scheduling the M31N 2009-10b ToO observations.
