[IAUC] CBET 593: 20060803 : NOVA IN M32

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                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 593
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
M.S. 18, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
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NOVA IN M32
     D. C. Leonard, P. M. Nied, M. R. Davis, and A. W. Shafter, San
Diego State University; T. R. Norris, California State University,
Chico; M. R. George, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics;
and A. Gal-Yam, California Institute of Technology, report on behalf
of the Caltech Core-Collapse Project (cf. IAUC 8405) that a CCD
spectrum (range 460-910 nm) of the apparent nova in M32 (cf. CBET 591),
obtained on Aug. 2 UT with the double spectrograph mounted on the
Palomar Observatory 5-m Hale telescope, confirms that it is indeed a
nova.  Prominent H-alpha (FWHM = 1200 km/s) and H-beta, and weaker Fe
II, emission lines are visible in the spectrum.  The peaks of the
slightly asymmetric Balmer lines indicate a velocity of recession of
about -180 km/s for the nova, strengthening the case for its
association with M32 (velocity of recession -200 km/s, from Huchra et
al. 1999, Ap.J. Suppl. 121, 287).


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                         (C) Copyright 2006 CBAT
2006 August 3                    (CBET 593)               Daniel W. E. Green