Optical Nova Candidate in M81

ATel #3867; K. Hornoch (Astronomical Institute, Ondrejov, Czech Republic), J. Gorosabel (IAA-CSIC, Spain), P. Kubanek (Institute of Physics ASCR, Czech Republic), and B. Sipocz (Centre for Astrophysics Research, U. of Hertfordshire, UK)
on 16 Jan 2012; 19:29 UT
Credential Certification: Allen W. Shafter (aws@nova.sdsu.edu)

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We report the discovery of the M81 nova candidate designated PNV J09553281+6902028. The transient was discovered on co-added 1800-s I-band and 720-s R-band CCD frames taken by Gorosabel and Kubanek with the 1.23-m telescope at Calar Alto on 2011 Dec. 25.099 UT.

The new object is located at R.A. = 9h55m32s.81, Decl. = +69o02'02".8 (equinox 2000.0), which is 1".9 west and 112".3 south of the center of M81. The object is not present on numerous archive images from the 2.54-m Isaac Newton Telescope, the 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope, the 4-m Mayall telescope, and the 8.4-m Large Binocular Telescope (Prieto et al., 2008, ApJ, 673, 59) down to limiting magnitudes as faint as Sloan r' = 23.0, R = 23.1, V = 23.8, and H-alpha = 22.2.

The object was confirmed on narrow-band H-alpha images taken by B. Sipocz with the 2.54-m Isaac Newton Telescope at La Palma on 2012 Jan. 9.102 UT.

We measured following magnitudes of the PNV J09553281+6902028: 2011 Oct. 11.196 UT, [21.8 (Gorosabel and Kubanek, 1.23-m telescope at Calar Alto, R-band); Nov. 4.118, [22.0 (A.F. Valeev, A.N. Sarkisyan, and S.N. Fabrika, 6-m BTA, R-band); Dec. 25.099, R = 19.7 +/- 0.15 (Gorosabel and Kubanek); 2012 Jan. 9.102, H-alpha = 19.76 +/- 0.06 (Sipocz, 2.54-m INT at La Palma).

A finding chart of the PNV J09553281+6902028