PTF10acbp: A Luminous Red Nova in the spiral UGC 11973
ATel #3094; M. M. Kasliwal, S. R. Kulkarni, E. O. Ofek, R. M. Quimby, A. Horesh (CIT), A. Gal-Yam, O. Yaron, A. Sternberg (WIS), Y. Cao (Tsinghua University), P. E. Nugent (LBNL), J. S. Bloom, S. B. Cenko (UCB), D. B. Fox (PSU) and N. M. Law (U. Toronto) report on behalf of the Palomar Transient Factory
on 31 Dec 2010; 07:36 UT
Distributed as an Instant Email Notice Transients
Credential Certification: Mansi Manoj Kasliwal (mansi@astro.caltech.edu)
Subjects: Infra-Red, Optical, Nova, Supernovae, Transient
On 2010 December 7.119 UT, the Palomar Transient Factory discovered
an optical transient, PTF10acbp at RA(J2000) = 22:16:55.47 and DEC(J2000) = +41:30:55.0. This is offset from the nucleus of UGC11973 by 56"E, 45"N. At the distance of UGC11973, the discovery magnitude R=19.9 corresponds to an absolute magnitude of M_R = -14. There are no previous detections in imaging taken on and prior to December 3 UT.
We obtained Target Of Opportunity spectra with Gemini-N/GMOS on December 12.22. The spectrum shows a red continuum, exhibits intermediate width H-alpha and Calcium features, and is similar to the spectra of other luminous red novae, e.g. M85OT 2006-1 (Kulkarni et al. 2007), PTF10fqs (Kasliwal et al. 2010).
A multiwavelength follow-up campaign is underway. We thank the Gemini staff for queue service observing.