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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 2800      2012 Feb 07 12.10UT
Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16,Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise,  Basingstoke,
Hants, RG22 4PP,England.Telephone/FAX(01256)471074Int:+441256471074
INTERNET: GUY@TAHQ.DEMON.CO.UK      Backup: gmh@wdcc1.bnsc.rl.ac.uk
WORLD WIDE WEB                         http://www.theastronomer.org
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M31N 1923-12c IS A RECURRENT NOVA IN MESSIER 31
A. W. Shafter, SDSU et. al., have obtained a spectrum of the recently 
discovered nova in Messier 31 assigned the '    query' designation PNV 
J00423804+4108417 (M31N 2012-01b) which indicates a He/N nova according 
to 'The Astronomer's Telegram 3914.

The position of the 2012 object, RA 00h42m38.04s; DEC 41d08'41.7" (2000) 
indicates it is apparently located ~6" from the catalogued position of 
M31N 1923-12c, a nova discovered by Edwin Hubble on December 11, 1923. 
Given that the positions of M31 novae from early photographic surveys 
were typically reported to a precision of only 0.1', and that He/N 
spectra are often associated with recurrent novae, the authors suggest 
the possibility that M31N 1923-12c and PNV J00423804+4108417 represented 
two outbursts arising from the same nova progenitor.

To explore this possibility further, F. Schweizer located Hubble's 
original plate in the Carnegie Observatories archives and performed a 
comparison by eye of the position of Hubble's nova with that of PNV 
J00423804+4108417, finding that they appeared to be spatially coincident 
to within ~1.5". A digital scan of Hubble's plate then allowed an 
estimate of the position of the nova relative to those of three nearby 
USNO reference stars. The analysis revealed that M31N 1923-12c was 
located at RA 00h42m38.06s; DEC +41d08'41.0" (2000), with an estimated 
uncertainty of 1" in each coordinate. Shafter et. al., conclude that 
M31N 1923-12c and PNV J00423804+4108417 are coincident to within 1", and 
that PNV J00423804+4108417 represents the second recorded outburst of 
the recurrent nova M31N 1923-12c.

Images of PNV J00423804+4108417 and M31N 1923-12c prepared at WWW by K. 
Nishiyama and F. Kabashima (Miyaki-Argenteus Observatory,
Japan): 
http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/faculty/shafter/extragalactic_novae/M31N1923-12c_
RN/

Guy M Hurst