[IAUC] CBET 3073: 20120329 : NOVA CENTAURI 2012 = PNV J13410800-5815470

Mie Mar 28 17:26:14 ART 2012

                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 3073
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 en eps.harvard.edu (alternate cbat en iau.org)
URL http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/index.html
Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network


NOVA CENTAURI 2012 = PNV J13410800-5815470
     John Seach, Chatsworth Island, NSW, Australia, reports his discovery of
a possible new nova (mag 9.2) on six images (limiting mag 11.0) taken on
Mar. 23.386 UT with a digital SLR camera (+ 50-mm f/1.0 lens); he reported
that the new object is located at R.A. = 13h41m08s, Decl. = -58d15'47"
(equinox 2000.0), adding that nothing is visible at this position on a
red Palomar Sky Survey image.  The variable was designated PNV
J13410800-5815470 when Seach posted it at the Central Bureau's TOCP webpage.
     Paul Camilleri measured position end figures 09s.34, 17".5 and mag 8.4
for PNV J13410800-5815470 from a 30-s unfiltered CCD image taken on Mar.
24.470 with a 0.35-m f/6 reflector at the Grove Creek Observatory at
Trunkey Creek, NSW -- adding that the closest star to this position on U.K.
Schmidt telescope plates (of infrared mag 17.2 on 1978 Apr. 17.6 and of red
mag 17.0 on 1994 Mar. 10.7) has position end figures 09s.06, 15".4.
     Ernesto Guido, Alison Tripp, Nick Howes, and Giovanni Sostero obtained
images of PNV J13410800-5815470 remotely via the 2.0-m f/10 Ritchey-Chretien
"Faulkes Telescope South" on Mar. 24.5, yielding Bessel-R magnitude 9.3 and
position end figures 09s.36, 16".9 (USNO-B1.0 catalogue reference stars);
an animation showing a comparison between their confirmation image and a
1994 red Digitized Sky Survey image is posted at URL http://bit.ly/GNmPAT;
their image alone is posted at http://bit.ly/GVeafc.
     Additional magnitudes for PNV J13410800-5815470, reported in part by
Elizabeth Waagen, AAVSO (visual unless noted otherwise):  Mar. 16.396, [11.0
(Seach, as above); 23.434, 9.2 (Seach, as above); 24.427, 9.6 (M. Linnolt,
Ocean View, HI, U.S.A.); 24.938, 9.6 (B. Fraser, Henley-on-Klip, South Africa);
25.172, 9.4-10.0 (A. Amorim, Florianopolis, Brazil; visual; range is based on
using red comparison stars with B-V > +0.9 vs. blue comparison stars with B-V
< +0.5 for the bright vs. faint values, respectively); 25.408, 9.7 (R.
Stubbings, Tetoora Road, Vic., Australia); 26.174, 9.7 (E. Fox, Santa Maria,
Brazil); 26.181, 9.9 (Fox); 26.840, 10.0 (Fraser); 27.597, 10.5 (A. Pearce,
Nedlands, Western Australia).  Waagen adds that many CCD V magnitudes have
been reported to the AAVSO by J. Hambsch (Mol, Belgium) for the interval Mar.
24.099-27.274 UT; nightly approximate magnitudes were Mar. 24.1-24.2, 9.4;
Mar. 25.1-25.2, 9.5; Mar. 26.1-26.3, 9.7; Mar. 27.1-27.3, 10.0.

     F. M. Walter, Stony Brook University, obtained a low-resolution
(0.31-nm) red (560-690 nm) spectrogram of PNV J13410800-5815470 on Mar. 27.3
UT using the SMARTS 1.5-m telescope (+ RC spectrograph) at Cerro Tololo.
The variable is a classical "Fe II"-type nova.  Emission lines are seen from
Fe II multiplet 74 at 614.9, 623.9, and 645.6 nm.  The H-alpha line has an
equivalent width of -19.0 nm, with a FWHM of 2.5 nm.  There is a P-Cyg
absorption feature at about -1600 km/s, and a notch in the blue wing of the
emission line at about -800 km/s.  There is broad emission with P-Cyg
absorption in the vicinity of Na D lines.  If the absorption is due to Na D
in the ejecta, this suggests outflow velocities between -700 and -2300 km/s.
The interstellar Na D lines are narrow, with equivalent widths of about 0.1
nm.  Also, BVRIJHK photometry was obtained with the SMARTS 1.3-m telescope
(+ Andicam dual channel photometer) at Cerro Tololo on Mar. 24.16, 26.14,
and 27.11; the V magnitude decreased from 9.4 to 9.9 over this interval.


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

                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 March 29                    (CBET 3073)              Daniel W. E. Green