AAVSO Special Notice #166
Possible Nova in Ophiuchus
August 17, 2009
Observers S. Kiyota (Tsukuba, Japan) and L. Elenin (Moscow, Russia) have independently confirmed the presence of a new object in Ophiuchus [V2672 Oph] previously reported on the CBAT Unconfirmed Observations Page (D.W.E. Green, editor; see http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/unconf/cbat_unconf.html for details). Kiyota remotely used the GRAS-G1 (0.3-m) in Mayhill, New Mexico and reports the following magnitudes: B=13.54, JD 2455060.6329; V=11.90, JD 2455060.6341; Rc=10.42, JD 2455060.6353; Ic=9.36, JD 2455060.6365 (via T. Kato, vsnet-alert 11399). Kiyota derives the following coordinates: RA: 17 38 19.70 , Dec: -26 44 13.8. Elenin remotely used the Tzec Maun 0.35-m, also in Mayhill, New Mexico and reports the following magnitudes: B=13.67, JD 2455060.7247; V=12.43, JD 2455060.7230; Rc=10.78, JD 2455060.7184 (private communication). Elenin also derived coordinates with the following position end figures: RA: 19.72s, Dec: 13.7" (+/- 0.6 arcseconds RMS). This object has no counterpart in either the USNO-B1.0 or 2MASS catalogs; however, a faint source is visible at these coordinates in both the DSS-II and 2MASS J images. The object is within the plane of the Milky Way and is in a very dense star field; as T. Kato points out in vsnet-alert 11399, this object is highly reddened, with (B-V) = +1.6. It has not yet been spectroscopically confirmed as a nova; the AAVSO will issue an Alert Notice [AAVSO Alert Notice 402] if and when confirmation arrives and the object is formally designated as a nova. Observations of this possible nova are encouraged. The J2000 coordinates of this source (from L. Elenin) are as follows: RA: 17 38 19.72 , Dec: -26 44 13.7 (+/- 0.6 arcsec) Finder charts for this object may be plotted by entering the coordinates above into AAVSO VSP: http://www.aavso.org/observing/charts/vsp/ Please submit all observations of this object as "VSX J173819.7-264413" The object has been assigned the AUID of 000-BJP-605. This AAVSO Special Notice was prepared by M. Templeton. --------------------------------------------------- SUBMIT OBSERVATIONS TO THE AAVSO Information on submitting observations to the AAVSO may be found at: http://www.aavso.org/observing/submit/ SPECIAL NOTICE ARCHIVE AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION A Special Notice archive is available at the following URL: http://www.aavso.org/publications/specialnotice/ Subscribing and Unsubscribing may be done at the following URL: http://www.aavso.org/publications/email/