New stellar merger candidate in M31 - AT2026aabo

[Nadejda Blagorodnova Mujortova]

Dear all,

a few days ago a new bight transient was discovered in M31.

We obtained a spectrum yesterday night, showing a bunch of narrow absorption lines, consistent with being a stellar merger (a Luminous Red Nova) at an earlier time.

Multi-wavelength follow-up will be necessary to track the evolution and rise to peak.

Thank you!

Nadia

https://bh-tom2.astrouw.edu.pl/targets/10519

PS: it is funny that the previous candidate from last year was called AT2025abao.

——
Assoc. Prof. Nadejda (Nadia) Blagorodnova 
Institut Ciències del Cosmos Universitat de Barcelona
Office 705 | Martí­ i Franquès, 1 08028 Barcelona

Aquest missatge, i els fitxers adjunts que hi pugui haver, pot contenir informació confidencial o protegida legalment i s’adreça exclusivament a la persona o entitat destinatària. Si no consteu com a destinatari final o no teniu l’encàrrec de rebre’l, no esteu autoritzat a llegir-lo, retenir-lo, modificar-lo, distribuir-lo, copiar-lo ni a revelar-ne el contingut. Si l’heu rebut per error, informeu-ne el remitent i elimineu  del sistema tant el missatge com els fitxers adjunts que hi pugui haver.

Este mensaje, y los ficheros adjuntos que pueda incluir, puede contener información confidencial o legalmente protegida y está exclusivamente dirigido a la persona o entidad destinataria. Si usted no consta como destinatario final ni es la persona encargada de recibirlo, no está autorizado a leerlo, retenerlo, modificarlo, distribuirlo o copiarlo, ni a revelar su contenido. Si lo ha recibido por error, informe de ello al remitente y elimine del sistema tanto el mensaje como los ficheros adjuntos que pueda contener.

This email message and any attachments it carries may contain confidential or legally protected material and are intended solely for the individual or organization to whom they are addressed. If you are not the intended recipient of this message or the person responsible for processing it, then you are not authorized to read, save, modify, send, copy or disclose any part of it. If you have received the message by mistake, please inform the sender of this and eliminate the message and any attachments it carries from your account.

[Nadejda Blagorodnova Mujortova]

Dear all,

An update about this request. 

We recently obtained a higher S/N spectrum of this object with NOT/ALFOSC and GTC/OSIRIS during peak time.

In the end, it has developed a strong and rather fast emission lines of H, Fe II, O I, N I, consistent with being a classical Fe nova in M31. 

It is unusually bright: M_R = -9.8 mag in the r-band, as the average value is -7.5,

but this is still within the M_R>-10 mag limit, seen for previous novae in M31.

Our group does not specialize in nova transients, so I am downgrading the priority of this target.

If there is anyone interested in nova studies, please get in touch with me, and we will be happy to share the spectroscopic data we obtained so far.

Best,

Nadia