Confirmation of a nova candidate in M 31 in optical and Swift UVOT observations
ATel #2727; M. Henze (Max-Planck-Institut fuer extraterrestrische Physik, MPE), V. Burwitz (MPE; Observatorio Astronomico de Mallorca, OAM), W. Pietsch (MPE), J. Rodriguez (OAM), C. A. Haswell, S. Holmes, U. Kolb, and R. Lucas (The Open University, OU)
on 8 Jul 2010; 17:04 UT
Credential Certification: Martin Henze (mhenze@mpe.mpg.de)
Subjects: Optical, Ultra-Violet, Nova
We confirm a recent nova candidate in M 31 reported to us by K. Hornoch. The object is visible on two 5x120s stacked unfiltered CCD images obtained with the 0.35-m f/11 OU/OAM PIRATE Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope (+ SBIG STL-1001E CCD camera) at Costitx, Mallorca, Spain on 2010 July 08.02 and 08.07 UT, respectively, with a corresponding R magnitude of 18.4. The position for the nova candidate is RA = 00h43m20.11s, Dec = +41d21'23.7" (J2000, accuracy of 0.3"), which is 403" east and 314" north of the core of M 31. No object is visible at the position of the nova candidate on a PIRATE image of 2010 June 26.08 UT (limiting R magnitude 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 nova candidate is already active during an observation with the UltraViolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT) on board the Swift satellite one day before the optical discovery. The UVW1 filter (181-321nm) observation with 3815 s exposure starting on 2010-07-07.07 UT (ObsID 00035336021) shows the object with a magnitude of 20.6+-0.3 mag at a position consistent with the coordinates of the optical source. No source is visible at this position in an earlier UVW1 filter observation starting on 2010-06-24.02 UT with a limiting magnitude of 21.0.
All optical 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). All UV 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 ToO observations.
