H-alpha detection of three recent optical novae in M 31

ATel #3486; M. Henze, K. Lutz, W. Pietsch, V. Burwitz (Max-Planck-Institut fuer extraterrestrische Physik, MPE), M. Zejmo, A. Slowikowska (Institute of Astronomy, University of Zielona Gora), G. Papamastorakis, P. Reig, A. Strigachev (FORTH & Dept. of Physics, University of Crete)
on 15 Jul 2011; 10:10 UT
Credential Certification: Martin Henze (mhenze@mpe.mpg.de)

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We report on the detection of three recent nova candidates in M 31 on a set of 3x300s dithered stacked CCD images obtained on 2011 July 14 with the 1.3m Ritchey Chretien f/7.5 telescope at Skinakas Observatory, Crete, Greece, using an Andor DZ436-BV-9CQ CCD Camera (with a Marconi 2k x 2k chip with 13.5 microns sq. pixels) and a broad (75 Angstrom wide) H-alpha filter. The most recent one of these candidates (PNV J00430685+4115308 = M31N 2011-06d(?)) is also detected on 4x300s stacked R filter images taken on July 15 with the same telescope. For the other two novae we determined upper limits in the R filter images. Note that PNV J00424359+4116378 probably has the alternative designation M31N 2011-05a, CBAT decision pending. Below, we give the CBAT name of the nova candidate, time of observation (UT), position, filter, and magnitude.

   
Name                  2011-07-     RA           Dec       Filter  Mag 
M31N 2011-01a          14.044  00h42m42.68s  +41d19'14.0"  HA    18.5 
                       15.055                              R    >19.0 
PNV J00424359+4116378  14.044  00h42m43.53s  +41d16'37.3"  HA    15.7 
                       15.055                              R    >18.5 
PNV J00430685+4115308  14.071  00h43m06.84s  +41d15'31.7"  HA    15.5 
                       15.067  00h43m06.86s  +41d15'31.5"  R     18.2   

Of these nova candidates, only M31N 2011-01a has been confirmed spectroscopically. For the remaining two candidates, our H-alpha detections strongly support classifying them as novae (see also ATels #2234 and #1602). Positions (J2000, accuracy of 0.2") and magnitudes (accuracy of 0.3mag) given are obtained from photometric solutions using R magnitudes of the Local Group Galaxy Survey M 31 catalogue (Massey et al. 2006, AJ, 131, 2478).