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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 2995      2014 Apr 11 18.11UT
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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MASTER OT J175924.12+252031.7 - POSSIBLE NOVA IN HERCULES
V. Vladimirov et. al., Moscow State University reports on The Astronomer's
Telegram 6069 the MASTER-Amur auto-detection system's discovery of an
optical transient (OT)source located at:
RA 17h 59m 24.12s DEC +25d 20' 31.7" (2000) on 2014 Apr 09.755UT. The OT, of
unfiltered magnitude is 12.8 (limit 18.0m) is seen in 9 images. A reference
image has been found without the OT on 2012 Aug 20.593UT with unfiltered
magnitude limit 18.3m. The object was not present on MASTER-Kislovodsk
images obtained on 2014 Mar 16.024UT (limit 18.0m). 

There are two red objects in SDSS offset by 1.2" and 1.8" to the OT: the
brighter one is SDSS J175924.20+252033.1 and the fainter one SDSS
J175924.13+252032. There is nothing at this position in 1RXS, 2MASS, GCVS
and AAVSO VSX. This area of sky in Hercules is not covered by Catalina Sky
Survey. No previous outbursts were detected by Mount Lemmon Survey. 

Based on the red colour of a possible progenitor and large outburst
amplitude (~8 magnitudes), MASTER OT J175924.12+252031.7 is most likely a
classical nova. The discovery and reference images are available at:
http://master.sai.msu.ru/static/OT/175924.12252031.7.png 


In a further report on The Astronomer's Telegram 6061 K. Z. Stanek et. al.,
Warsaw University relay that during the ongoing All Sky Automated Survey for
SuperNovae (ASAS-SN or "Assassin"), using data from the quadruple 14-cm
"Brutus" telescope in Haleakala, Hawaii, they detected a new transient
source:

Object      RA (J2000)   DEC (J2000)  Disc. UT Date   V mag

ASASSN-14an 17:59:24.02 +25:20:33.2   2014-04-10.51 	13.3 

ASASSN-14an has coordinates very close to the bright transient source OT
J175924.12+252031.7 (see above). ASASSN-14an was automatically detected in
ASAS-SN images obtained on 2014 Apr 10.51UT, and it was also present (but
not automatically detected) in poor image quality data taken on the
following dates:

UT Date                 preliminary V mag 
2014-04-04.53               below 17.0 
2014-04-08.46              12.9 +- 0.1 
2014-04-09.483             12.9 +- 0.1 
2014-04-10.511             13.3 +- 0.1 
It was not detected on Apr 4.5 and earlier.

Guy M Hurst