Liverpool Telescope spectra of recent M31 nova candidates
ATel #7958; S. C. Williams (LJMU), M. J. Darnley (LJMU), M. F. Bode (LJMU)
on 27 Aug 2015; 12:16 UT
Credential Certification: Matt Darnley (M.J.Darnley@ljmu.ac.uk)
Subjects: Optical, Nova, Transient
We obtained a spectrum of the M31 nova candidate reported in ATel #7914 with the SPRAT spectrograph on the Liverpool Telescope (Steele et al. 2004) on 2015 August 27.1 UT. The spectrum shows strong Balmer emission (Hα FWHM ~ 2000 km/s), many Fe II emission lines (e.g. 4924, 5018, 5317, 6248Å) and O I (7773Å) emission. This confirms that the transient is a nova in M31 and is a member of the Fe II spectroscopic class.
We obtained a spectrum of M31 nova candidate PNV J00434752+4120483 (see CBAT TOCP) with SPRAT on 2015 August 26.1 UT. The spectrum is red and shows TiO absorption features, indicating that this transient is not a nova, but likely to be a red long-period variable.
We also report an additional spectrum of nova M31N 2015-07d (PNV J00422994+4111210; ATel #7823), taken after our confirmation spectrum (ATel #7828). This later spectrum, taken with SPRAT on 2015 July 30.0 UT, shows numerous Fe II lines in emission, along with Balmer lines, Na I and O I features. This spectrum confirms M31N 2015-07d to be a member of the Fe II spectroscopic class.
