Discovery of a Probable Nova in M81

ATel #9909; K. Hornoch (Ondrejov), H. Kucakova, J. Vrastil (Charles University), S. C. Williams (Lancaster), M. Henze (CSIC-IEEC), M. J. Darnley (LJMU), A. Kaur, D. H. Hartmann (Clemson), G. Sala, J. Jose, J. Figueira, P. Sin (UPC-IEEC), M. Hernanz (CSIC-IEEC), A. W. Shafter (SDSU), H. Meusinger (TLS)
on 28 Dec 2016; 17:54 UT
Credential Certification: Martin Henze (henze@ice.cat)

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The M81 nova monitoring collaboration reports the discovery of a probable nova in M81 on a co-added 5850-s unfiltered CCD frame taken on 2016 Dec. 17.134 UT with the 0.65-m telescope at Ondrejov. The new object is also visible on the two prediscovery images taken with the same instrumentation on Dec. 9.076 and 12.971 UT.

The new object designated PNV J09550672+6903217 is located at R.A. = 9h55m06s.72, Decl. = +69o03'21".7 (equinox 2000.0), which is 141.8" west and 33.4" south of the center of M81 (see link to discovery image below).

Here we list the observing dates and corresponding photometry:

 
  Date [UT]    |  Mag  | Err  | Filter | Telescope  
2016-12-05.090 | <22.3 |      | C      | OND 
2016-12-09.076 |  21.1 | 0.3  | C      | OND 
2016-12-12.971 |  20.9 | 0.3  | C      | OND 
2016-12-17.134 |  21.0 | 0.25 | C      | OND 
2016-12-27.112 |  21.5 | 0.4  | C      | OND 
 

The OND 0.65-m is a reflecting telescope at the Ondrejov observatory operated jointly by the Astronomical Institute of ASCR and the Astronomical Institute of the Charles University of Prague, Czech Republic. It uses a Moravian Instruments G2-3200 CCD camera (with a Kodak KAF-3200ME sensor and standard BVRI photometric filters) mounted at the prime focus. The unfiltered photometry was calibrated against R-band comparison stars from Perelmuter & Racine (1995).

Discovery image