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OGLE-IV Pre-discovery Observations of MASTER OT J010603.18-744715.8

ATel #9622; P. Mroz, A. Udalski (Warsaw University Observatory), on behalf of the OGLE team
on 14 Oct 2016; 12:53 UT
Credential Certification: Przemek Mroz (pmroz@astrouw.edu.pl)

Subjects: Optical, Cataclysmic Variable, Nova, Transient

Referred to by ATel #: 9628, 9631, 9635, 9688, 9733, 12385

Shumkov et al. (ATel #9621) reported the discovery of a bright optical transient MASTER OT J010603.18-744715.8 toward the Small Magellanic Cloud. The object is located in the fields SMC727 and SMC734 that are regularly monitored by the OGLE-IV Survey.

The star was saturated in the image acquired on 2016 October 14.11706 UT, meaning it was brighter than I=11 mag. The last pre-eruption image was taken on October 6.15547 UT.

The progenitor was clearly visible in the OGLE images at equatorial coordinates of R.A. = 01:06:03.27, Decl. = -74:47:15.8 (J2000.0). It had the mean magnitude of I = 20.84 mag and color (V-I) = 0.16 mag. The progenitor showed semi-regular variability on a timescale of 20-30 days.

The transient's brightness and its progenitor's properties suggest it is a classical nova.
Precise I-band photometry of the star will be available via the OGLE CVOM system once the star fades below the saturation limit.

Finding charts can be found here.