AAVSO Alert Notice 394
Nova in the Large Magellanic Cloud
February 9, 2009
Event: Nova in The Large Magellanic Cloud
Discovered By: W. Liller (Vina del Mar, Chile)
Discovery Date: 2009 February 05.067 UT (JD 2454867.567)
Discovery Magnitude: m=10.6 (Tech Pan photograph, unfiltered)
Position: RA = 05h 40m 44.20s , Dec = -66d 40m 11.6s (J2000; H. Bond et
al.)
Charts: Finder charts for this object may be plotted by entering the
coordinates above into VSP: ttp://www.aavso.org/observing/charts/vsp/
Notes: This object was announced as a nova in IAU Circular No. 9019
(Daniel W.E. Green, editor). W. Liller found the object on two unfiltered
Tech Pan frames of the field on 2009 February 05.067 (JD 2454867.567) at
a magnitude of 10.6. An image of the field on 2009 January 31.065
indicated nothing brighter than magnitude 14.0 at that position. A
follow-up image taken on 2009 February 07.092 (JD 2454869.592) indicates
the nova has rapidly faded to magnitude 11.8.
The object was confirmed as a nova using spectra obtained by H.E. Bond
et al using the SMARTS 1.5-m telescope at Cerro Tololo, Chile. Spectra
show broad, flat-topped H-gamma and H-delta lines with a FWHM of 3900
km/s. Bond et al. also provided the precision astrometry given
above; position is accurate to 0.1 arcseconds, and was measured relative
to five nearby USNO catalog stars.
Liller suggests that the close proximity of Nova LMC 2009 to the
coordinates of Nova LMC 1971 (the latter listed as RA: 05h 40.6m , Dec =
-66d 40') may indicate that Nova LMC 2009 and Nova LMC 1971 are both the
same progenitor and that this is a recurrent nova. However, the
connection between the two events is not yet confirmed.
Please submit all data to the AAVSO using the name "N LMC 09". This
object is also assigned the AUID 000-BJJ-604, and was initially assigned
the name "VSX J054044.2-664011".
Congratulations to Bill Liller for his discovery!
Clear skies, and good observing,
Matthew Templeton
AAVSO
SUBMIT OBSERVATIONS TO THE AAVSO
Information on submitting observations to the AAVSO may be found at:
http://www.aavso.org/observing/submit/
ALERT NOTICE ARCHIVE AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
An Alert Notice archive is available at the following URL:
http://www.aavso.org/publications/alerts/
US $124.44
