Requesting Continued Monitoring of Nova Sco 2015 and Nova Sgr 2015

Affiliation
American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO)
Tue, 02/17/2015 - 13:40

Hello!

My name is Tom Finzell, I am a graduate student currently studying novae (I work with people like Jennifer Sokoloski). The data that you guys provide for us is unimaginably useful, and I spend quite a bit of time on AAVSO monitoring the evolution of different novae that we are working on. So, first of all, thank you!

Secondly, in the last week two new bright transient sources were detected (see http://www.aavso.org/aavso-special-notice-398 and http://www.aavso.org/aavso-special-notice-397) and I can tell you that they have both been spectroscopically confirmed as novae (Nova Sgr 2015 and Nova Sco 2015). Further, one of them (Nova Sco 2015) has been confirmed to be part of the rare class of novae that include a red-giant companion star (V745 Sco, a nova that went off last year, was another member of this rare class). We have also detected high-powered shocks coming from Nova Sco 2015, making it even more interesting! 

With that in mind, I would like to make a formal request: if you have the opportunity it would be really great if you guys could monitor these two novae as much as possible, with a special emphasis on Nova Sco 2015. Folks like me who work on novae would really appreciate it!

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments. Again, we really appreciate everything you guys are doing!

Thanks,

Tom 

Affiliation
Vereniging Voor Sterrenkunde, Werkgroep Veranderlijke Sterren (Belgium) (VVS)
Nova observations

Hi Tom,

I am observing both nova every clear night in BV filters. I could add I filtered observations if of interest.

Regards,

Josch