AT2019agt a nova in M31

Alerts and Monitoring of Novae
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Robin Leadbeater
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AT2019agt a nova in M31

Post by Robin Leadbeater »

A possible nova in M31 AT2019agt was discovered at ~mag 17 by amateurs George Carey and Nick James. (2019-01-28)
https://wis-tns.weizmann.ac.il/object/2019agt
https://britastro.org/node/17044

This was a difficult spectroscopic target due to the high sky background contamination from the galaxy (The object is not far from the bright central region)
A first very low SNR spectrum using the ALPY 600 showed a blue continuum but no clear features above the noise (2019-01-29). A further spectrum taken last night(2019-02-04) however shows that a clear broad H alpha emission line has emerged and there is H beta emission at the local M31 radial velocity, confirming that this is likely a nova.

(Classification submitted to TNS and spectra submitted to the BAA spectroscopy database)

Robin
at2019agt_20190129_768_Leadbeater.png
at2019agt_20190129_768_Leadbeater.png (59.54 KiB) Viewed 2843 times
at2019agt_20190204_774_Leadbeater.png
at2019agt_20190204_774_Leadbeater.png (47.42 KiB) Viewed 2843 times
LHIRES III #29 ATIK314 ALPY 600/200 ATIK428 Star Analyser 100/200 C11 EQ6
http://www.threehillsobservatory.co.uk
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