2011IAUC.9216....1S

As first reported on CBET 2735, John Seach (Chatsworth Island, NSW, Australia) reported his discovery of a possible nova (mag 9.5) on three CCD images (limiting mag 11.0) taken on June 1.40 UT with a digital SLR camera (+ 50-mm-f.l. f/1.2 lens + orange filter). Seach found the object to be located at R.A. = 16h55m11s, Decl. = -38o38'12" (equinox 2000.0), and the designation PNV J16551100-3838120 was given to this object when posted on the Central Bureau's TOCP webpage. Nothing is visible at this position on Seach's images taken on May 30 UT (limiting mag 11.0) or on the ESO Online Digitized Sky Survey (no dates, bandpasses, or limiting magnitudes provided). A low-dispersion spectrogram obtained by A. Arai, T. Kajikawa, and M. Nagashima, Kyoto Sangyo University, on June 2.68 with the 1.3-m Araki telescope (+ LOSA/F2) under a hazy sky shows a broad H_alpha (FWZI about 4600 km/s) with an asymmetric profile and O I (777.4 nm) on a highly-reddened continuum; no visible He or Fe II lines exist in the spectrum. These features suggest that the object is a classical nova in outburst with high interstellar reddening (further details appear on CBET 2735). N. Samus relates that the permanent GCVS designation V1312 Sco has been given to this nova.