Discovery of a Probable Nova and an Unusually Luminous Red Variable Star in M83
ATel #4723; K. Hornoch (Astronomical Institute, Ondrejov, Czech Republic)
on 10 Jan 2013; 19:56 UT
Credential Certification: Allen W. Shafter (aws@nova.sdsu.edu)
Subjects: Optical, Nova, Transient
I report the discovery of a probable nova in M83 on a co-added 600-s R-band CCD frame taken on 2013 Jan. 8.374 UT with the Danish 1.54-m telescope at La Silla.
The new object designated PNV J13364430-2950339 is located at R.A. = 13h36m44s.30, Decl. = -29o50'33".9 (equinox 2000.0), which is 216.2" west and 82.8" north of the center of M83 (see link to finding chart below). Its color and peak brightness are consistent with outburst of classical nova in M83.
The following R-band magnitudes (except otherwise noted) were obtained, including prediscovery detections, using the Danish 1.54-m telescope at La Silla:
2012 Jun. 1.138 UT, [22.6; Dec. 12.361, [22.3; 18.368, [22.7; 23.345, [22.9; 28.314, 21.0 +/- 0.15; 28.316, I = 21.1 +/- 0.2; 2013 Jan. 2.313, 21.6 +/- 0.2; 8.374, 19.9 +/- 0.1; 9.370, 19.9 +/- 0.1; 10.374, 19.46 +/- 0.09.
During the survey, another relatively bright optical transient was found. The object is located at R.A. = 13h36m54s.74, Decl. = -29o53'03".5 (equinox 2000.0), which is 80.4" west and 66.8" south of the center of M83. Subsequently, the object was also found on some deep archival images taken with large ground-based telescopes. Its peak magnitude R = 19.4 mag (absolute mag MR = -9.0 using distance modulus μ = 28.4 for M83) together with color index (R-I) = 1.4 +/- 0.2 mag and amplitude of light changes > 3 mag on a scale of years make this object potentially rare.
I thank M. Zejda, J. Liska, M. Skarka, P. Kusnirak, and A. Galad for getting some of M83 images.
Finding chart
