[vsnet-chat 2238] Re: (fwd) Nova Paper research

[Alon Retter <ar@astro.keele.ac.uk>]

Dear Claude,

It is not an easy task to answer your question.
First you should decide which novae interest you.
There are classical novae (the primary is most probably a 
white dwarf), and x-ray novae (the primary is believed to be
a compact object). In addition, most novae are found in our
galaxy, but there are a few detected in globular clusters / 
other galaxies.

Since there is no professional systematic search for novae 
(at least I'm not aware of one), most novae are found by 
very serious amateurs, and we, professionals, appreciate
much their work. Exceptions are novae found in systematic
surveys (usually aimed for supernovae hunting).

The rate of classical nova detections in our galaxy is about
3-4 a year. You can find useful information in the vsnet:
http://vsnet.kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp/vsnet/novae.html
and
http://vsnet.kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp/vsnet/

Some of the young novae mentioned there and a few more
(but not a comprehensive list):

1990 - Sgr,
1991 - V838 Her, Mus (x-ray nova), Sgr
1992 - V1974 Cyg, Sgr 
1993 - V703 Cas, V1419 Aql, Sgr
1994 - V2214 Oph, 
1995 - V723 Cas, Cen, V1425 Aql, Cir
1996 - Cru, Sgr, 
1997 - Sco,
1998 - Mus, Sco, Oph (but it might be a recurrent nova), Sgr, 
       M31 (not in our galaxy).
1999 - V1493 Aql, V382 Vel, V4444 Sgr,  

V1974 Cyg is for example variable number 1974 in Cygnus.

In order to find the discoverer you should search for the
first announcement on the nova discovery, usually found in 
the IAUC. So, either run a search on each nova in the ADS - 
http://cdsads.u-strasbg.fr/abstract_service.html
and check the first IAUC or scan all IAU Circulars since 1990 
(this should give you all novae):
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iauc/RecentIAUCs.html

One of the most fertile discoverers of southern novae (Mus 1998, 
Sgr 1998 and many more) is William Liller, who is an amateur.
The japanese have also had many success in this field.
It is not easy to find out whether the discoverer
is a professional or an amateur. You can email him personally - 
search his email in the astronomy search engine:
http://star-www.rl.ac.uk/astrolist/astrosearch.html
but this is mainly for professionals. You can also check
his publications in the ADS, and try to conclude from this
information. When you'll have a complete list, you can email 
the vsnet-chat, asking on individuals.

I hope that this helps.

Regards,
Alon
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Dr. Alon Retter         Tel. (work)     +44-(0)1782-58-3493  
   Physics Dept.           Fax  (work)     +44-(0)1782-711093 
   Keele University        -----------------------------------
   Staffordshire           'As a scientist I don't believe myself, so
   ST5 5BG, U.K.            why should I believe you?' (A.R. 1965-2085)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Fri, 20 Aug 1999, Taichi Kato wrote:
 
>    Forwarded query:
> 
> From: "Claude Boivin" <cboivin@destination.ca>
> Date: Thu, 19 Aug 1999 22:40:31 -0400
> Subject: Nova Paper research
> 
> Dear  Sir
> 
> I'm doing a paper on nova and i'm looking for some statistics on how =
> many novas where found from 1990 to 1999.
> Where they found by amateurs or professionnal astronomers.
> 
> Thank you very much for your time
> 
> 
> A la prochaine
> Claude Boivin
> mailto: cboivin@destination.ca
> http://vsnet.destination.ca/~cboivin/
> http://ftp.globetrotter.net/astroccd/cboivin/cookbook/
> http://vsnet.globetrotter.net/astroccd/membres.htm#boic
> 
>

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