Recurrent Nova M31N 2008-12a: discovery and constraints of the 2016 eruption
ATel #9848; K. Itagaki (Itagaki Astronomical Observatory), X. Gao (Xingming Observatory), M. J. Darnley (LJMU), M. Henze (CSIC-IEEC), A. W. Shafter (SDSU), S. C. Williams (Lancaster), S. Kafka (AAVSO), M. Kato (Keio University), for a larger collaboration
on 12 Dec 2016; 13:44 UT
Credential Certification: Matt Darnley (M.J.Darnley@ljmu.ac.uk)
Subjects: Optical, Nova, Transient
Referred to by ATel #: 9852, 9853, 9857, 9861, 9864, 9865, 9872, 9874, 9881, 9883, 9885, 9891, 9906, 9907, 9910, 10001, 11116, 11124, 11130, 12177, 12179, 12207, 13269, 13273, 13279, 13290, 14130, 15034
We report the discovery of the predicted 2016 eruption of the remarkable recurrent M 31 nova M31N 2008-12a (also see CBAT TOCP; see ATels #5607,#6527,#7964 for earlier detections as well as Darnley et al. 2014, 2015, 2016 and
Henze et al. 2014, 2015a, 2015b for comprehensive multi-wavelength light curves of previous eruptions).
The nova was clearly detected on 2016-12-12.4874 UT using five images (480s total exposure time) obtained with the 50cm f/6 telescope, with a BITRAN BN-52E(KAF-1001E) camera, at the Itagaki Astronomical Observatory. The unfiltered discovery magnitude is 18.2.
The nova was also detected by the Half-Meter-Telescope (HMT) at the Xingming Observatory, a 508mm aperture, with a focal length of 2052mm using a QHY11 CCD camera.
A number of observations over the two previous days from the Liverpool Telescope and LCO-1m in McDonald have enabled us to constrain the time of eruption:
Date Telescope Filter Photometry
2016 12 11.0280 LT u' >20.4
2016 12 11.8902 LT u' >21.6
2016 12 11.8989 LT u' >22.2
2016 12 12.1507 LCO-1m r' >19.1
2016 12 12.4872 Itagaki 50cm none 18.2
2016 12 12.5358 Xingming HMT V 17.9
2016 12 12.5368 Xingming HMT V 18.1
2016 12 12.5377 Xingming HMT V 18.1
2016 12 12.5386 Xingming HMT V 18.0
2016 12 12.5395 Xingming HMT V 18.3
We will continue to monitor the nova light curve and strongly encourage additional follow-up observations. We have also triggered our pre-planed Swift, GTC and Gemini-North campaigns.
