Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams

Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams -- Image credits

IAUC 8461: N IN M31; 2004gq, 2005A

The following International Astronomical Union Circular may be linked-to from your own Web pages, but must not otherwise be redistributed (see these notes on the conditions under which circulars are made available on our WWW site).

Read IAUC 8460 SEARCH Read IAUC 8462

View IAUC 8461 in .dvi, .ps or .PDF format.
IAUC number 

                                                  Circular No. 8461
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
Mailstop 18, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
IAUSUBS@CFA.HARVARD.EDU or FAX 617-495-7231 (subscriptions)
CBAT@CFA.HARVARD.EDU (science)
URL http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/cbat.html  ISSN 0081-0304
Phone 617-495-7440/7244/7444 (for emergency use only)


NOVA IN M31
     A rather bright apparent nova in M31 has been discovered
independently on an R-band CCD frame taken by K. Hornoch
(Lelekovice, Czech Republic, 0.35-m reflector) on Jan. 7.891 UT and
on unfiltered CCD frames taken by R. Arbour (South Wonston, England,
0.3-m reflector) on Jan. 10.925.  Hornoch's position for the new
object:  R.A. = 0h42m28s.38, Decl. = +41o16'36".2 (equinox 2000.0),
which is 180" west and 28" north of the center of M31; Arbour
provides position end figures 28s.34, 37".6 (estimating the
object's magnitude as about 15).  Available R-band magnitudes
for the nova provided by Hornoch:  2004 Dec. 18.068, [21 (3.5-m
WIYN telescope image taken by P. Garnavich); 2005 Jan. 2.821, [19.8;
6.766, 19.2 (prediscovery image taken at Ondrejov by P. Kusnirak);
6.793, 19.4; 7.891, 17.9; 9.724, 15.6; 9.937, 15.27; 10.749, 15.48
(Kusnirak); 10.766, 15.32; 10.786, 15.27; 10.806, 15.30; 10.908,
15.34; 10.926, 15.31.  A V-band image by Kusnirak taken on Jan.
10.753 yields mag 15.45.


SUPERNOVAE 2004gq AND 2005A
     M. Modjaz, R. Kirshner, and P. Challis, Harvard-Smithsonian
Center for Astrophysics; and T. Matheson, National Optical
Astronomy Observatory, report that a spectrum (range 350-740 nm) of
SN 2005A (cf. IAUC 8459), obtained by E. Falco on Jan. 7.24 UT with
the F. L. Whipple Observatory 1.5-m telescope (+ FAST), shows it to
be a type-Ia supernova, one or two weeks before maximum.  The
supernova expansion velocity, derived from the minimum of Si II
(rest 635.5 nm) and adopting the NED recession velocity of 5738
km/s for the host galaxy, is about 14400 km/s.  Zero-velocity
interstellar Na I D absorption with an equivalent width of about
0.5 nm is detected in a spectrum of SN 2005A taken on Jan. 8.24
by P. Berlind, indicating gas along the line-of-sight in our Galaxy
and thus suggesting reddening by dust.  Schlegel et al. (1998, Ap.J.
500, 525) estimate a Galactic reddening of E(B-V) = 0.03 mag along
the line-of-sight to the host galaxy.
     Modjaz et al. add that a spectrogram of SN 2004gq (cf. IAUC
8452), obtained by Falco on Jan. 7.29 UT, shows it to be a type-Ib
supernova.  The spectrum exhibits conspicuous lines of He I (rest
447.1, 587.6, 667.8, 706.5 nm) and is very similar to spectra of SN
1984L (Harkness et al. 1987, Ap.J. 317, 355), about 3 weeks after
maximum.  SN 2004gq was previously classified (IAUC 8404) as a
type-Ic supernova.

                      (C) Copyright 2005 CBAT
2005 January 11                (8461)            Daniel W. E. Green

Read IAUC 8460 SEARCH Read IAUC 8462

View IAUC 8461 in .dvi, .ps or .PDF format.

Our Web policy. Index to the CBAT/MPC/ICQ pages.

Valid HTML 4.01!