January 24, 2010: Further to CBET 2140 (D.W.E. Green, editor), a probably nova has been discovered in Sagittarius by J. Seach (Chatsworth Is., NSW, Australia). The object was discovered by Seach on 2010 January 20.22 UT (JD 2455216.72) at a magnitude of approximately 8.5 using a DSLR with 50-mm f/1.4 lens and orange filter, at coordinates RA: 18:07:26 , Dec: -29:01:00. Nothing was visible at this location in a prior image taken 2009 November 15.89 to a limit of mag 11.5. The object has since been confirmed by several observers: W. Vollmann (Vienna, Austria), 2010 Jan 22.287, CV=9.3; S. Kiyota (Tsukuba, Japan), 2010 January 22.862, V=8.98, (V-Rc)=+0.60, (V-Ic)=1.20; K. Nishiyama (Kurume, Fukuoka-ken, Japan) and F. Kabashima (Miyaki-cho, Saga-ken, Japan), 2010 January 23.892, CV=8.5. Nishiyama and Kabashima also provide higher precision coordinates:
RA: 18:07:26.95 , Dec: -29:00:43.6 (J2000)
obtained with a 0.4-m Meade 200R f/9.8 reflector and SBIG STL1001E CCD (CBET 2142, D.W.E. Green, editor). CBET 2142 also reports that spectroscopy by H. Maehara, Kwasan Observatory (Kyoto U.) obtained on 2010 Jan 23.887 shows broad hydrogen H(alpha), along with H(beta) and iron FeII lines in emission, suggesting a nova.
Observations of this probable nova are encouraged. However, note that this is an extremely crowded field, and the object will be difficult to photometer once it fades.
Charts for Nova Sgr 2010 may be plotted using VSP: http://www.aavso.org/vsp
Please report observations of this object to the AAVSO using the name "NOVA SGR 2010". An Alert Notice will be issued once the object is assigned a formal variable star name.
This AAVSO Special Notice was prepared by M. Templeton.
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