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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 3071      2015 Apr 06 10.53UT
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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NOVA OPHIUCHI 2015
Yukio Sakurai, Japan reports discovery of a possible mag 12.2 nova in
Ophiuchus on two 15-s frames of 2015 Mar. 29.76UT using a Nikon D7100
digital camera (+ 180-mm-f.l. f/2.8 lens)
It is located: RA 17h 29m 13.5s DEC -18 46' 12" (2000).
Nakano measured Sakurai's JPEG frame and determined magnitude 12.3 and
position end figures 13s.43, 14".0 (probable error +/- 3").
http://www.oaa.gr.jp/~oaacs/image/PnovaOph.jpg.

Additional CCD magnitudes Mar. 27.62UT, 13.7 (R. Kaufman, Victoria,
Australia, with a Canon 650D camera + 200-mm-f.l. lens; green channel of
DSLR image; 30.540, V = 12.26, I_c = 11.57 (S. Kiyota, Japan; remotely with
an iTelescope 0.61-m f/6.5 CDK astrograph + FLI PL09000 camera at the Sierra
Remote Observatory 
Apr 1.11, B = 12.69, V = 11.94, R_c = 11.39, I_c = 10.90 (Munari and
Dallaporta); 

M. Fujii (Fujii Kurosaki Observatory, Kurashiki, Okayama, Japan) obtained a
low-resolution spectrogram on Mar. 30.75UT with a 0.4-m telescope and found
Balmer lines with P-Cyg profiles; absorption minimums of H-alpha and H-beta
lines are blue-shifted by 1900 km/s with respect to the emission. Fujii also
found emission lines of He I (504.8-, 587.6-, 667.8-, and 706.5-nm), N II
(500.1-, 547.9-, 567.9-, and 593.8-nm), and possibly N III 464.0-nm and O I
777.3-nm, adding that the variable appears to be a "He/N"-type nova.  The
spectrum is posted via website URL http://tinyurl.com/n8thf5l.

Guy M Hurst