2010CBET.2127....1H

Kamil Hornoch, Astronomical Institute, Ondrejov; Jose Prieto, Carnegie Observatories; Rubab Khan, Department of Astronomy, Ohio State University; and Ondrej Pejcha, Department of Astronomy, Ohio State University, report low-resolution optical spectroscopy (range 400-750 nm, resolution 1.4 nm) and optical photometry of M31N 2010-01a (cf. CBET 2124). Spectra were obtained using the Boller & Chivens CCD Spectrograph on the 2.4-m Hiltner telescope at MDM Observatory; a spectrogram taken by Prieto and Khan on Jan. 13.08 UT (only 1.95 days after its first optical detection by Burwitz et al.) exhibits a blue continuum with H-alpha, H-beta and Fe II lines with prominent P-Cyg profiles. The FWZI of the emission component of H-alpha is about 2500 km/s. This suggests that the object is an "Fe II"-class nova in its early stages of evolution. Sloan magnitudes were measured by Hornoch from images taken by Prieto and Khan with RETROCAM on the 2.4-m Hiltner telescope: Jan. 13.106, g' = 16.15 ± 0.08; 13.110, r' = 15.94 ± 0.04. In addition, they obtained (from a co-added 300-s Sloan r' image) the following position for 2010-01a: R.A. = 0:42:56.73, Decl. = +41:17:21.2 (equinox 2000.0; offset from the center of M31: 140" east, and 73" north), in agreement with the position on CBET 2124; Hornoch adds that nothing is present at this position down to R = 21.3 on a co-added 1560-s R-band CCD frame taken during software tests by P. Kubanek, J. Gorosabel, P. Martorell, and M. Jelinek with the 1.23-m telescope at Calar Alto on 2010 Jan. 2.799 UT.