[IAUC] CBET 2574: 20101208 : APPARENT NOVA IN M31: M31N 2010-12a

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                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 2574
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


APPARENT NOVA IN M31:  M31N 2010-12a
     W. Zheng, A. Romadan, and N. Whallon, University of Michigan; J. Vinko,
University of Szeged; R. Quimby, California Institute of Technology; S. B.
Pandey, F. Yuan, and C. Akerlof, University of Michigan; P. Pasque and M.
Verkinderen, Cousino High School; and J. C. Wheeler and E. Chatzopoulos,
University of Texas, on behalf of the ROTSE collaboration, report the
discovery of an optical transient in M31, located at R.A. = 0h40m24s.39, Decl.
= +41o04'03".9 (equinox 2000.0; uncertainty < 1"), which is 26'.3 west and
12'.1 south from the core of M31, that was detected in unfiltered CCD images
taken by the ROTSE-IIIb telescope at McDonald Observatory on Dec. 1.15 UT,
both in co-added image and in four individual images at mag about 16.7.  The
object, designated 2010-12a, was not detected to a limiting magnitude of
about 18.5 before and on Nov. 28.  The quoted ROTSE magnitudes are calibrated
relative to the USNO-B1.0 catalogue.  A finding chart can be found at website
URL http://www.rotse.net/rsvp/j004024.4+410404/ROTSE3-J004024.4+410404.jpg.
Jiangao Ruan, Fangchenggang, Guangxi, China; and Xing Gao, Urumqi, Xinjiang,
China, report their independent discovery of M31N 2010-12a at mag approximately
16.3 on two unfiltered 60-s survey CCD images (limiting mag about 19.5) taken
by Xing Gao in the course of the Xingming Observatory Sky Survey around Dec.
1.5205 UT using a Celestron C14 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope at Mt. Nanshan;
they provide position end figures 24s.37 +/- 0s.01, 03".5 +/- 0".2.  Additional
magnitudes for M31N 2010-12a from Ruan and Gao:  1993 Oct. 21, [20.8 (Palomar
Sky Survey, red N plate); 2010 Nov. 28, [19.5; 29, [19.5; Dec. 1.543, 16.1;
4.554, 16.0; 5.517, 16.0; 6.532, 16.2; 17.524, 16.3.  Ruan and Gao have
posted their images at website URL http://www.xjltp.com/XOSS/XM02JR/XM02JR.htm.


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                         (C) Copyright 2010 CBAT
2010 December 8                  (CBET 2574)              Daniel W. E. Green