2012CBET.3072....1N

Syuichi Nakano, Sumoto, Japan, reports the discovery by Hideo Nishimura (Miyawaki, Kakegawa, Shizuoka-ken) of a possible nova (mag 12.1) on three 13-s frames (limiting mag 13.5) taken on Mar. 25.789 UT with a Canon 200-mm f/3.2 lens and a Canon EOS 5D Digital Camera mounted on a Takahashi EM100 equatorial telescope at Gomyo, Kakegawa, Japan. Nishimura notes that nothing is visible at this position on Digitized Sky Survey images or in the 2MASS catalogue. The variable was designated PNV J17260708-2551454 when it was posted at the Central Bureau's TOCP webpage. Additional positions and magnitudes for the variable (Nakano adds that H. Kaneda, Sapporo, Japan, measured position end figures 07s.10, 46".1 from Nishimura's discovery frames):

---------------------------------------------------------------------------— 2012 UT R.A. (2000.0) Decl. Mag. Observer(s) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------— Mar. 20.784 [13.0 Kojima 24.785 12.2 Kojima 25.758 12.2 Kojima 25.789 17h26m07s.08 -25d51'45".4 12.1 Nishimura 26.752 12.7 Takao 26.796 12.6 Nishimura 27.421 17 26 07.02 -25 51 42.6 12.37V Kiyota 27.459 17 26 07.02 -25 51 42.5 12.6 Yusa 27.5 17 26 07.02 -25 51 42.1 10.9 Guido et al. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------—

Additional observers in the above table:

T. Kojima (Gunma-ken, Japan). Canon EOS 40D camera + 150-mm f/2.8 lens. Akira Takao (Kitakyushu, Japan). 100-mm camera lens + STL-6303E camera. Limiting mag about 13.0.

Seiichiro Kiyota (Tsukuba, Japan). Remotely with 25-cm reflector + ST-10XME camera (iTelescopr.NET T-4) at Mayhill, NM, U.S.A. Also magnitudes B = 13.27, R_c = 11.88, I_c = 11.11; image posted at website URL http://meineko.sakura.ne.jp/ccd/PNV_J17260708-2551454-120327.jpg.

T. Yusa (Osaki, Japan). Remotely using a 0.25-m f/3.4 hyperbolic astrograph + SBIG ST-10XME camera at the RAS Observatory near Mayhill, NM, U.S.A.; USNO-B1.0 reference stars. Co-added 60-s exposures (limiting mag 18.5); image at http://space.geocities.jp/yusastar77/supernova/PNinOph_120327.htm. Ernesto Guido, Giovanni Sostero, and Nick Howes. Remotely with a 0.10-m f/5 reflector near Mayhill, NM, U.S.A. Reference stars from USNO-B1.0 catalogue. An animation showing a comparison between their image and a red Digitized Sky Survey plate from 1997 is shown at website URL http://bit.ly/GUTN2i; the confirmation image is at URL http://bit.ly/HcAy0f.