Electronic Telegram No. 5138 Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams Mailing address: 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 FQ CIRCINI = TCP J15244460-6059200 Andrew Pearce, Nedlands, Western Australia, reports his discovery of a nova-like variable (mag 10.7) on three unfiltered images (limiting mag 12.5) taken on June 25.487 UT with a Canon 800D digital camera (+ 85-mm-f.l. f/1.2 lens), providing the following approximate position: R.A. = 15h24m44s.6, Decl. = -60d59'20" (equinox J2000.0). After Pearce posted the variable on the Central Bureau's TOCP webpage, it was automatically given the provisional designation TCP J15244460-6059200. Pearce reports that follow-up CCD images obtained remotely on June 25.635 with a 0.50-m f/6.8 reflector at Siding Spring, NSW, Australia, yield position end figures 47s.60, 47".3 (Gaia DR2 reference stars); he notes that this position coincides with a star visible on a red Digitized Sky Survey image. F. Romanov, Yuzhno-Morskoy, Nakhodka, Russia, notes that the object's position is close to that of the source 5875610751015084544 in the Gaia DR3 catalogue. Pearce comments that there does not appear to be any evidence of significant variability of the Gaia DR3 source mentioned by Romanov in the ASAS-SN data going back some years, though this variable could be an object close to that 14th-magnitude star. Additional magnitudes reported to the Central Bureau for the variable: June 19.12, 14.0: (ASAS-SN Sky Patrol, via Pearce); 20.569, 13.5: (R. H. McNaught, Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia, Canon 6D camera + 135-mm-f.l. f/2.8 lens at ISO 800, 60-s exposure, unfiltered); 21.516, 13.5: (McNaught); 22.521, [12.5 (Pearce); 22.522, 13.5: (McNaught); 23.513, 13.5: (McNaught); 24.408, 13.5: (McNaught); 24.478, [12.5 (Pearce); 24.516, 13.5: (McNaught); 24.630, 13.5: (McNaught); 24.728, 10.9 (McNaught); 24.806, 10.6 (McNaught); 24.807, 10.5 (McNaught); 25.20, 10.9 (ASAS-SN, via Pearce); 25.432, 10.6 (McNaught); 25.543, 11.1 (McNaught); 25.566, 10.7 (Pearce, visual); 25.598, 11.1 (Pearce, visual); 25.632, 11.2 (Pearce, visual); 25.637, V = 11.39 (Pearce); 25.638, B = 12.07 (Pearce); 25.679, V = 11.25 (Romanov, remotely with an iTelescope 0.50-m f/6.8 reflector at Siding Spring); 25.682, 12.03 (Romanov); 25.685, R_c = 10.37 (Romanov); 25.746, 11.4 (McNaught); 26.266, 12.3 (ASAS-SN Sky Patrol, via P. Schmeer); 26.451, 12.2 (Pearce, visual); 26.459, B = 12.86 (Pearce); 26.486, V = 12.30 (Pearce); 26.610, 11.6 (McNaught); 26.710, 11.6 (McNaught); 26.797, 11.7 (McNaught). Pearce forwards a report that T. Love, Martinborough, New Zealand, obtained a low-resolution (R about 600) spectrogram on June 26.946 UT using a 30-cm Ritchey-Chretien telescope (+ Shelyak Alpy spectrograph); the spectrum shows a reddened continuum and strong emission with a heavily broadened base in hydrogen Balmer lines and in He I lines at 492.2, 501.6, 504.8, 587.6, and 706.5 nm. P-Cyg line profiles are weak or absent. The full width of the base of the H-alpha line was approximately 32.0 nm, or around 14600 km/s, giving an estimated velocity of over 7000 km/s for the ejecta. The spectral features and radial velocity are consistent with the object being a fast He nova after maximum brightness (cf. also https://www.astronomerstelegram.org/?read=15473). E. Kazarovets writes that the permanent GCVS designatino FQ Cir has been given to TCP J15244460-6059200. NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars. (C) Copyright 2022 CBAT 2022 June 28 (CBET 5138) Daniel W. E. Green