iPTF13akn: Discovery of a Classical Nova in Messier 94
ATel #4967; M. M. Kasliwal (Carnegie/Princeton), Y. Cao (CIT), A. De Cia (WIS), E. O. Ofek (WIS), I. Arcavi (WIS), D. Perley (CIT), P. E. Nugent (LBL), S. B. Cenko (UCB), J. Cooke (Swinburne), G. Kacprzak (Swinburne), S. R. Kulkarni (CIT) (on behalf of the intermediate Palomar Transient Factory collaboration)
on 10 Apr 2013; 21:17 UT
Credential Certification: Yi Cao (smartcaoyi@gmail.com)
On April 10, 2013 07:04:48 UT, the intermediate Palomar Transient
Factory (ATEL#4807, ATEL#4808) discovered iPTF13akn at RA = 12:51:12.30
DEC = +41:09:56.6 (J2000). The apparent magnitude was R=20.66 +/- 0.13 mag.
At the 4.66 Mpc distance of M94, this corresponds to an absolute magnitude
of -7.7. No source was detected at this position in the nightly co-add from
April 4 UT to R > 21.8 mag.
On April 10, 2013 15:12:16 UT, an optical spectrum was obtained with the
Low Resolution Imaging Spectrograph on the Keck I telescope. The spectrum
is characterized by a blue continuum with Balmer emission consistent with
the velocity of M94. The FWHM of the H-alpha line is approx. 2000 km/s.
We tentatively identify some noisy features between 5000-5500A as possibly
Fe II emission. We classify iPTF13akn as a classical nova in M94.
