Nova In Cetus?

THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF VARIABLE STAR OBSERVERS
25 Birch Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
aavso@aavso.org
Tel. 617-354-0484 Fax 617-354-0665

AAVSO ALERT NOTICE 333 (January 21, 2006)

SUBJECT: Possible New Dwarf Nova in Cet (ASAS023322)

Bogumil Pilecki, Warsaw University Astronomical Observatory,
reports on a possible new nova or dwarf nova discovered by the
ASAS3V instrument. Coordinates by David Boyd (BDG) using
UCAC2 as reference are:

RA: 02:33:21.398 +/- 0.07 Decl.: -10:47:04.55 +/- 0.07 (J2000)

The previously unobserved object was first detected by ASAS3V
on Jan 20.121 UT at magnitude 12.08 in V.

The new object has been confirmed by the following AAVSO
observations:

Jan 21.779 12.58 +/- 0.02 CCD V David Boyd England
Jan 21.9136 13.18 +/- N/A CCD Unfiltered Diego Rodriguez Spain
Jan 21.96 12.5 +/- N/A CCD V Cristovao Jacques Brazil
Jan 22.0882 12.7 Visual Dan Taylor Canada
Jan 22.1490 12.99 +/- 0.01 CCD Unfiltered Tom Krajci USA

Time series observations by Tom Krajci do not reveal any short
term modulation at this time, however the data set is short. Please
take CCD time series observations for as long as possible in the
next few days and submit your observations to the AAVSO. If this is
a UGWZ type dwarf nova then superhumps will be detected, and a
change in their hase may be detected early in the outburst. Visual
observations are requested to monitor the star's long term behavior.
Spectroscopic observations would also help to determine the star's type.

Pilecki reports that one star is located close to this position
in the USNOB catalog:

# id| RA| DEC| B1| R1| B2|
0792-0024872 02:33:21.3620 -10:47:04.940 18.180 18.620 19.340 19.15

AAVSO e-scale charts with a sequence by B. Sumner have been prepared
by A. Price and B. Stine and are available at this URL:
www.aavso.org/cgi-bin/searchcharts3.pl?name=ASAS023322

An AAVSO light curve is available at this URL:
tinyurl.com/a2jdv

Until a more formal designation is assigned, submit data to
the AAVSO as "ASAS023322" with a designation of 9999+99.

Confirmed to be a 'dwarf' nova, I got this yesterday myself.
Quote from follow up observations:
Keith..

Dear friends,

A spectrum of ASAS J023322-1047.0 covering 3550-5300 A was obtained on 2006
January 22.12 by C. Aguilera, using the SMARTS 1.5-m telescope at Cerro Tololo
Interamerican Observatory, on behalf of myself and F. Walter.

The spectrum shows broad, shallow absorption lines of the hydrogen Balmer series
and He I 4471 A, which is a spectrum typical of a dwarf nova at maximum light.
We thus confirm the object as a new member of the class of large-amplitude dwarf
novae.

best regards,
Howard E. Bond
Space Telescope Science Institute

Nice one Keith..thanks for the update

At max magnitude 12, it will hardly light up the sky, but still, things have been very quiet on the nova front lately.....

Keith..

They have been very quiet Keith but good to see there is some action out there...maybe the beginning of bigger things to come i hope

I have never seen a Nova before keith but i eagerly await the next bright one to graze our skies, every night when darkness falls i have a good scan with the unaided eye in the hope of seeing a new visitor and i hope that day or should i say night will come soon plus it would be all the more sweeter if you discovered it!

Good luck with your Nova hunting and imaging.

Clear skies

I have never seen a Nova before keith but i eagerly await the next bright one to graze our skies, every night when darkness falls i have a good scan with the unaided eye in the hope of seeing a new visitor and i hope that day or should i say night will come soon plus it would be all the more sweeter if you discovered it!

Don't worry - it IS coming, no doubt about it The first one I ever seen was in 1999 when a nova in aquila reached magnitude 4 Brilliant to see it fade over the next few weeks...

Still lookin' around!

Keith..