Y. C. Joshi1 and D. Narasimha2
Abstract.
Two classical novae were detected in the disk of M 31. The
photometric observations were taken in Cousins R and I bands
during the four year Naini Tal Microlensing Survey which was being
carried out during 1998-2002 with the aim of detecting microlensing
events in the direction of M 31. The first nova, NMS-1, which had an
outburst in 2000 and was monitored before the outburst as well as
after, showed an R-magnitude of 17.2 on 2000 October 20, and a fast
decline of 0.11 mag/day. For the second nova NMS-2, outburst at peak
was not detected; however, this nova was observed during the
declining phase in 2001. The rate of decline of NMS-2 suggests that
either it was a slow nova or we started monitoring it at late phase
of its outburst. In the follow-up observations which were carried
out from 2-m Hanle telescope in 2004-2005, we find that both the
novae have reached their pre-outburst level flux, though the
Rc-Ic color could be slilightly different.
Keywords: classical novae -- recurrent novae -- cataclysmic variables -- optical spectroscopy -- optical photometry
1ARIES, Manora Peak, Naini Tal 263 129, Uttarakhand, India
2ata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai 400 005, India