[vsnet-newvar 1655] (fwd) Nova? in SMC comments from Liller

[Taichi Kato <tkato@kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp>]

(fwd) Nova? in SMC comments from Liller

Hola Everyone -

Brian Skiff, Mati Morel and now Berto Monard have done yeoman service to
see if the nova candidate in the SMC can be identified with a known
progenitor.  Here is a further thought:

It appears now that its value for t2, the time to fade 2 mags, is about 6
days.  According to Downes & Duerbeck (ApJ 120, 2007, 2000), this t2 would
correspond to a classical nova with Mv = -9.3 +/- 0.6.  If unreddened, such
a nova  would, in the SMC, reach an apparent V = 9.2, assuming m-M = 18.5
for the SMC. Because the previous photo of the SMC was taken a long 8 days
before discovery, and because the candidate is very possibly reddened being
as it is near the center of the galaxy, a nova scenario is entirely
reasonable.  Consequently, its minimum brightness would most likely have
been fainter than V = 21.  Perhaps the HST could confirm this possibility.

What is really needed is either (a) a spectrum of the candidate, and (b)
anybody's photographs of the SMC taken in the days prior to discovery.
What were the spectroscopists of the world doing last week?

All the best,   Bill/William

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