Nova Vel 1999 = V382 Vel

(CCD image by G. Garradd)

Peter Williams in Sydney just phoned me to report a possible nova in Vela. I have made a confirmatory observation as follows:

May 22.423UT  mag 3.0
May 22.435UT  mag 3.0

2000 coords:  10h 44.7m  -52d 23m

Have a clear night and will keep on posting observations.

Regards
Andrew Pearce

Granslo's information

(vsnet-alert 3011)

Norwegian Astronomical Society - Variable Star Section

POSSIBLE BRIGHT NOVA IN VELA
This possible nova, located at R.A. = 10h44.7m, Decl. = -52o23'
(2000.0), was first reported by A. Pearce [vsnet-alert 3008].

*** Latitudes of visibility ***

This object is currently visible from all of the Southern and parts of the Northern hemisphere. The table below shows the Northern latitude limits for the given dates (at 00h UT) and the critical elevations of the object when the Sun is 12 degrees below the free horizon (i.e. at the beginning of astronomical twilight).

Elevation    May 22   May 30   Jun  7   Jun 15   Jun 23   Jul  1
               o        o        o        o        o        o  
20 degrees   17.3 N   16.3 N   14.6 N   12.4 N    9.7 N    6.6 N
10 degrees   26.8 N   25.4 N   23.6 N   21.2 N   18.5 N   15.5 N
 5 degrees   31.4 N   29.9 N   27.9 N   25.5 N   22.8 N   19.9 N
---
Elongation  113.7 E  109.8 E  105.8 E  101.5 E   97.1 E   92.6 N

*** Chart of Nova Vel 1999 ***

A finder and sequence chart has been prepared and is available via the address http://www.astro.uio.no/~bgranslo/varchart.html. This chart is based on Hipparcos (HIP) and Tycho catalogues and contains V-magnitudes from HIP.

                                      Yours sincerely,
                                      Bjorn H. Granslo

Historical bright novae (Schmeer)

(vsnet-alert 3013)

The probable nova discovered by Peter Williams would be the third known nova in Vela - and by far the brightest one. The two previous ones were CN Vel in 1905 (max 10.2p) and CQ Vel in 1940 (max 9.0p).

--------------------------------------------------------------

Here is a complete list of well-observed classical novae that got brighter than mag 3.5 at maximum.

V603 Aql     1918    -1.1v
GK Per       1901     0.2v
CP Pup       1942     0.5v
RR Pic       1925     1.0v
DQ Her       1934     1.3v
V476 Cyg     1920     1.6v
V1500 Cyg    1975     1.8V
CP Lac       1936     2.1v
CK Vul       1670     2.6v
Q Cyg        1876     3.0v
V446 Her     1960     3.0p
V533 Her     1963     3.0p

--------------------------------------------------------------

And here is a list from the USNO-A2.0 catalog of those stars within 120" of the reported nova position and with b-r<1.3

    RA            Decl.           Mag.      Radius     Angle
 hr mn sec     dec mn sec      Red  Blue    arcsec      deg
 
 10 44 31.231  -52 23 52.92   16.6  17.7    111.9      251.8
 10 44 31.533  -52 21 56.82   15.9  17.0    114.8      291.9
 10 44 32.023  -52 23 44.27   17.0  18.2    101.5      253.5
 10 44 32.335  -52 22 38.97   16.8  17.7     91.0      278.2
 10 44 32.783  -52 22 39.84   17.8  18.7     86.8      278.3
 10 44 33.603  -52 23 39.65   16.1  17.0     86.5      252.5
 10 44 33.738  -52 23 38.67   16.9  17.8     84.9      252.7
 10 44 34.314  -52 22 53.84   15.7  16.8     70.6      273.1
 10 44 35.415  -52 23 23.10   14.2  15.2     64.6      256.8
 10 44 36.532  -52 22 36.81   11.3  12.4     55.2      285.8
 10 44 38.132  -52 23 39.48   17.1  18.1     53.0      235.8
 10 44 38.641  -52 21 18.32   16.2  17.3    106.2      333.6
 10 44 39.513  -52 22 50.36   17.1  18.2     24.7      284.5
 10 44 39.891  -52 21 53.67   17.5  18.7     69.1      334.5
 10 44 40.694  -52 22 15.40   17.7  18.9     46.2      336.3
 10 44 40.943  -52 24 29.09   17.8  19.0     89.6      190.1
 10 44 42.182  -52 24 11.14   16.0  17.1     71.2      177.8
 10 44 42.751  -52 21 02.33   17.4  18.3    117.9        5.5
 10 44 42.988  -52 22 22.93   17.5  18.7     38.2       21.8
 10 44 44.080  -52 24 45.85   16.6  17.7    107.5      163.6
 10 44 44.967  -52 21 27.85   16.8  18.0     96.1       25.8
 10 44 45.264  -52 21 45.07   17.5  18.7     80.7       33.2
 10 44 45.388  -52 24 22.77   17.7  18.8     88.4      148.5
 10 44 45.720  -52 24 24.91   17.3  18.0     91.5      146.7
 10 44 46.349  -52 22 08.62   16.8  18.0     65.0       51.8
 10 44 46.598  -52 23 45.62   15.0  16.2     62.1      123.5
 10 44 47.656  -52 23 50.22   14.5  15.2     72.1      120.6
 10 44 47.859  -52 23 54.10   16.1  17.1     76.2      121.6
 10 44 48.433  -52 23 09.87   14.8  15.9     59.7       95.8
 10 44 48.629  -52 21 59.40   17.0  18.1     85.8       58.7
 10 44 50.499  -52 24 00.61   16.8  18.0     98.6      115.4
 10 44 51.306  -52 23 51.03   17.5  18.7     99.3      110.1
 10 44 53.376  -52 22 37.62   16.0  17.2    106.5       82.5

USNO-A2.0 magnitudes for GSC 8210.383: r= 12.7, b= 14.7

Regards,
Patrick

Possible prenova (Morel, Schmeer)

(vsnet-alert 3020)

I have a preliminary, but more accurate position, from the Anglo-Australian Observatory (courtesy Peter Williams) for the nova of (J2000) 10h44m49.5s -52o25'35".

I don't know what sort of errors the above figures may have, but the nova appears to lie close to the easternmost of a pair of USNO-A2.0 stars. Its position is 10h44m49.10s -52o25'29.9" (R=16.6, B=17.8, V=17.1)

There is nothing precisely at the AAT position, so maybe this is the best candidate.

The other star mentioned above is slightly brighter (R = 16.4, B =16.4), with end figures 48.4s, 31.2"

Cheers,
Mati

(vsnet-alert 3021)

According to the USNO-A2.0 catalog there is a blue mag 16.4 star only 3.0" from the position reported by Pam Kilmartin on IAUC 7176: R.A. 10h44m48.416s Decl. -52d25'31.23" (J2000.0) r= 16.4, b= 16.4 Looks like a very good candidate for the pre-nova. It is also the USNO-A2.0 star closest to the (probably less accurate) position reported by Andrew Pearce (cf. vsnet-alert 3019). The following star seems to be too far away (9.4" from Kilmartin's coordinates) and too red (b-r= 1.2): R.A. 10h44m49.095s Decl. -52d25'29.87" (J2000.0) r= 16.6, b= 17.8

Regards,
Patrick