2006IAUC.8673....1L

W. Liller, Vina del Mar, Chile, reports his discovery of an apparent nova (mag approximately 9.0) on three Technical Pan photographs taken with an 85-mm-f.l. camera lens (+ orange filter) around Feb. 17.37 UT. The new object is located at R.A. = 17h58m.9, Decl. = -36o48' (equinox 2000.0). Nothing brighter than mag 11.0 was seen at this position on a photo taken on Feb. 5.36. Liller adds that a low-dispersion CCD spectrogram of the H_alpha region (resolution 0.32 nm/pixel) of the apparent nova, taken on Feb. 19.38 UT with a 0.2-m Schmidt telescope (+ 75 lines/mm grating), shows a moderately strong H_alpha emission with a FWHM of 630 ± 25 km/s. A weak P-Cyg profile may be present approximately 535 km/s from the peak of the H_alpha emission. H. Yamaoka, Kyushu University, reports the independent discovery of this nova at mag about 8.6 on Feb. 17.84 by Minoru Yamamoto (Okazaki, Aichi, Japan) via two digital-camera images taken with a 85-mm-f.l. camera lens and a Fuji Finepix S2Pro camera; Yamamoto's position for the new object is R.A. = 17h58m54s, Decl. = -36o47'40". C. Jacques and E. Pimentel, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, write that their unfiltered CCD images taken on Feb. 19.34 UT show the new object at mag 8.6 with the following position end figures: 52s.61, 35".1 (equinox 2000.0). Jacques adds that a USNO-B1.0 catalogued source that is also visible on a red 1979 Digitized Sky Survey plate (with limiting mag 19.9) has red mag 17.4 and position end figures 52s.60, 36".2. Visual magnitude estimate by A. Pearce, Nedlands, W. Australia: Feb. 19.848 UT, 9.2. N. N. Samus, Institute of Astronomy, Russian Academy of Sciences, informs us that the designation V5117 Sgr has been given to this nova.