New optical nova candidate in the disk of M31
ATel #7963; G. Sala (UPC-IEEC), M. Henze (CSIC-IEEC), J. Jose, J. Figueira (UPC-IEEC), M. Hernanz (CSIC-IEEC)
on 28 Aug 2015; 09:02 UT
Credential Certification: Gloria Sala (gloria.sala@upc.edu)
We report the discovery of a possible nova in the disk of M31. The new candidate was
detected on 2015 August 27.07 UT and 28.06 UT with R magnitude 19.1±0.2 and
19.2±0.2, respectively. Its position is RA = 00h44m16.5s, Dec = +41o32'23.9" (J2000,
accuracy 0.2"), which is 1039" east and 976" north of the core of M31. The source is not
present in previous images of our M31 disk monitoring, with an upper limit of magnitude
20.2 in R on 2015 August 26.04.
The candidate was detected in two 4x200s stacked R filter CCD images, obtained with the
80 cm Ritchey-Chretien F/9.6 Joan Oro telescope at Observatori Astronomic del Montsec,
owned by the Catalan Government and operated by the Institut d'Estudis Espacials de
Catalunya, Spain, using a Finger Lakes PL4240-1-BI CCD Camera (with a Class 1 Basic
Broadband coated 2k x 2k chip with 13.5 microns sq. pixels).
No object is visible on the images of the Local Group Galaxies Survey (LGGS, Massey et al.
2006, AJ, 131, 2478). Furthermore, there is no entry in VizieR/CDS for this object and no
minor planet could be found on this position using the MPC/IAU Minor Planet Checker (see http://scully.harvard.edu/~cgi/CheckMP ).
All magnitudes were obtained from a
photometric solution using R magnitudes of the LGGS (Massey et al. 2006). Spectroscopic
follow-up observations are encouraged.
