Electronic Telegram No. 3202 Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION CBAT Director: Daniel W. E. Green; Hoffman Lab 209; Harvard University; 20 Oxford St.; Cambridge, MA 02138; U.S.A. e-mail: cbatiau@eps.harvard.edu (alternate cbat@iau.org) URL http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/index.html Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network NOVA MONOCEROTIS 2012 = PNV J06393874+0553520 Mitsuru Soma, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, reports the discovery by Shigehisa Fujikawa (Kan'onji City, Kagawa Prefecture, Japan; discoverer of comet C/1969 P1) of a possible nova (mag 9.4) on two 1-min CCD exposures taken on Aug. 9.8048 and 9.8061 UT with a Pentax 100 SDUF digital camera (+ 105-mm-f.l. f/3 camera lens). The new object is located at R.A. = 6h39m38s.74, Decl. = =+5o53'52".0 (equinox 2000.0; uncertainty around 5"). A follow-up exposure by Fujikawa on Aug. 12.8174 with a 400-mm-f.l. f/4 lens yields mag 9.4 and position end figures 38s.63, 52".5. H. Yamaoka, Kyushu University, reports that S. Nakano measured Fujikawa's Aug. 12 image and got position end figures 38s.57, 53".4 (+/- 1".5). Yamaoka adds that there is a faint catalogued star of blue mag about 19.5 and red mag about 17.7 at position end figures 38s.58, 52".8 in the USNO-B1 catalogue and 38s.60, 53".0 (magnitudes J = 15.8, K_s = 15.0) in the 2MASS catalogue. The variable was designated PSN J06393874+0553520 when it was posted at the Central Bureau's TOCP webpage. Arto Oksanen and Caisey Harlingten report that imaging obtained remotely with a 40-cm PlaneWave telescope at San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, on Aug. 13.388 UT yields position end figures 38s.57, 53".0 and magnitudes B = 10.36, V = 9.83 for the variable. E. Waagen, AAVSO, reports that Oksanen also obtained R = 8.23 +/- 0.05 on Aug. 13.391. Seiichiro Kiyota, Tsukuba, Japan, used a 20-cm reflector (+ Alta E47 CCD camera) on Aug. 15.762, to measure magnitudes V = 9.67, R_c = 8.25, I_c = 7.98; his image is posted at website URL http://meineko.sakura.ne.jp/ccd/PNV_J06393874+0553520.jpg. Waagen forwards the following magnitudes by J. Hambsch, Mol, Belgium: Aug. 13.417, V = 9.89 +/- 0.01; 14.418, V = 9.86 +/- 0.01; 15.396, R = 8.30 +/- 0.002; 15.397, V = 9.90 +/- 0.05; 15.398, B = 10.16 +/- 0.04; 15.419, I = 8.03 +/- 0.02. Christian Buil, Castanet, France, writes that a spectrogram of PNV J06393874+0553520 taken by Stephane Charbonnel at the Observatoire de Haute Provence (OHP) with a 0.3-m reflector (+ LhiresIII spectrograph; R about 16000) on Aug. 14.137 UT during an OHP spectroscopy workshop yields FWHM = 3500 km/s for H-alpha; the spectrum can be viewed at the following website URL: http://tinyurl.com/9rg8oz3. Another spectrogram (R = 1000) obtained during the same workshop by James Edlin on Aug. 14.140 with a 0.28-m reflector (+ LISA spectrograph) shows intense He lines and Na emission at 589.0 nm; that spectrum can be viewed at URL http://tinyurl.com/9ccfky4. Buil notes that these spectra suggest the variable to be a nova. Kazuyoshi Imamura, Okayama University of Science (OUS) team, writes that he obtained a low-resolution spectrogram (R about 400) of PNV J06393874+0553520 on Aug. 16.808 UT using the DSS-7 spectrometer attached to the 0.40-m Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope at the OUS observatory. Broad and prominent emission lines of Balmer series, He I (501.6, 587.6, 667.8, and 706.5 nm), O I (777.3 nm), N II (567.9 and 500.1 nm), N III (464.0 nm), [O I] (630.0 and 636.4 nm), [O II] (732.5 nm), and [N II] (575.5 nm) can be seen in the spectrum. The FWHM of H-alpha is approximately 2100 km/s. [O II] and [N II] lines show double peaks. The data are similar to the spectrum of N LMC 1991 on 1991 May 8 (Williams et al. 1994, Ap.J. Suppl. 90, 309). From these results, PNV J06393874+0553520 is thought to be a classical nova, and it seems to be evolving toward the nebular phase. Imamura's spectrum has been posted at website URL http://tnblab.blog7.fc2.com/blog-entry-328.html. NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars. (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT 2012 August 17 (CBET 3202) Daniel W. E. Green