Alert Notice 394: Nova in the Large Magellanic Cloud

February 9, 2009
 

Event: Nova in The Large Magellanic Cloud         [N LMC 2009]

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: http://www.aavso.org/vsp

Notes: This object was announced as a nova in IAU Circular 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

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