Electronic Telegram No. 2735
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
CBAT Director:  Daniel W. E. Green; Hoffman Lab 209; Harvard University;
 20 Oxford St.; Cambridge, MA  02138; U.S.A.
e-mail:  cbatiau@eps.harvard.edu (alternate cbat@iau.org)
URL http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/index.html
Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network


NOVA SCORPII 2011 = PNV J16551100-3838120
     John Seach, Chatsworth Island, NSW, Australia, reports his discovery of
a possible nova (mag 9.5) on three CCD images (limiting mag 11.0) taken on
June 1.40 UT with a digital SLR camera (+ 50-mm-f.l. f/1.2 lens + orange
filter).  Seach found the object to be located at R.A. = 16h55m11s, Decl. =
-38d38'12" (equinox 2000.0), and the designation PNV J16551100-3838120 was
given to this object when posted on the Central Bureau's TOCP webpage.
Nothing is visible at this position on Seach's images taken on May 30 UT
(limiting mag 11.0) or on the ESO Online Digitized Sky Survey (no dates,
bandpasses, or limiting magnitudes provided).
     Arto Oksanen and Caisey Harlingten report that they obtained images
of the suspected nova under partly-cloudy conditions using a 50-cm Dall-
Kirkham telescope (+ Apogee Alta CCD camera) located at San Pedro de Atacama,
Chile, on June 2.33 UT, yielding preliminary V magnitude 10.4 and position end
figures 09s.48, 04".0.  Their V-band images spanning a little over an hour
show a constant fading of 0.15 mag/hr between June 2.333 and 2.375.
     Ernesto Guido and Giovanni Sostero write that they obtained unfiltered
CCD images of PNV J16551100-3838120 on June 2.4 UT remotely with the GRAS
RCOS 32-cm f/6.3 telescope at Officer, Australia, showing the variable at
mag about 9.4 and at R.A. = 16h55m09s.46, Decl.= -38d38'04".5 (equinox 2000.0;
USNO-B1.0 catalogue reference stars).  They have posted an animation showing a
comparison between their image and a red Digitized Sky Survey plate from 1995
at website URL http://bit.ly/jK5mMP.
     Visual magnitude estimates:  June 2.564 UT, 11.2 (Peter Williams,
Heathcote, NSW, 15-cm reflector; communicated by E. Waagen, AAVSO); June
2.975 UT, 11.1 [A. Amorim, Florianopolis, Brazil, 0.18-m reflector; magnitude
source ASAS-3 chart 73-A00031(d) by Mati Morel].

     A. Arai, T. Kajikawa, and M. Nagashima, Kyoto Sangyo University, write
that they performed low-dispersion optical spectroscopic observations (range
400-750 nm; R about 600) of PNV J16551100-3838120 on June 2.68 UT using the
1.3-m Araki telescope (+ LOSA/F2) under a hazy sky.  The spectrum shows a
broad H-alpha (FWZI about 4600 km/s) with an asymmetric profile and O I
(777.4 nm) on a highly-reddened continuum.  No visible He or Fe II lines exist
in the spectrum.  These features suggest that the object is a classical nova
in outburst with high interstellar reddening.  The spectrum is posted at
website URL http://www.cc.kyoto-su.ac.jp/~kao/blog/index.php/view/98.


NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes
      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2011 CBAT
2011 June 3                      (CBET 2735)              Daniel W. E. Green