Swift and SMARTS observations of Nova Sco 2012
ATel #4287; K. L. Page (U. Leicester), J. P. Osborne (U. Leicester), G. J. Schwarz (AAS) and F. M. Walter (Stony Brook U.)
on 30 Jul 2012; 16:37 UT
Credential Certification: Kim Page (kpa@star.le.ac.uk)
Subjects: Optical, Ultra-Violet, X-ray, Nova
Swift began a monitoring campaign of Nova Sco 2012 on 22 June 2012, 30
days after its discovery (CBET #3136; ATel #4157). This object has been
proposed as a source of >100MeV photons by Cheung et al (ATEL #4284) based
on Fermi-LAT data analysis.
Swift-XRT has so far detected no X-ray source. With a total exposure time of
8.7 ks, collected between 22 June and 13 July, we derive a 90% upper limit
of 0.002 count s^-1 (0.3-10 keV), corresponding to an unabsorbed flux of
about 9 x 10-14 erg cm-2 s-1 over the
XRT band.
Data were simultaneously collected by the Swift-UVOT using the uvm2 filter (central
wavelength of 2246 A). A source was clearly detected at ~ 18.5 mag on 22
June. This source brightened to about 18.1 mag by day 43-49, apparently
peaking 14-20 days after the V band from comparison with the AAVSO data.
This is consistent with the shifting of the SED to higher energies as the
Fe II curtain lifts (e.g., Shore et al. 1994, ApJ, 421, 344).
Spectra were also obtained with the SMARTS 1.5m telescope between 21 June
and 23 July. These show a fairly standard Fe II nova with no evidence for
any hot lines.
Follow-up observations at all wavelengths are encouraged. We thank the Swift PI and mission operations team for their support.
