We are carrying out the "Pan-STARRS Search for Kilonovae" which is a focused search for intrinsically faint transients, or rapidly evolving transients in galaxies which are closer than 200 Mpc in the ongoing Pan-STARRS Near Earth Object surveys (see Smartt et al. AstroNote 2019-48 for details).
In normal survey mode, Pan-STARRS takes 4 x 45s exposures in w, i or z each night reaching 5 sigma magnitudes of w<22, i<21 and z<20.5 in each frame (see Chambers et al. 2016, 1612.05560).
We report the discovery of an intrinsically faint transient PS19fxf (AT2019ser) in the host galaxy UGC00179 , at a redshift of z = 0.014960, or d = 61 Mpc (from NED). The transient was discovered at MJD 58763.48 (2019-10-07.48) at mag w = 20.3 +/- 0.1. It is coincident with the core of the host to within 0.3 arcsec (a projected 0.1 kpc radius from the galaxy centre). At this distance the absolute magnitude is M_w = -13.8 (assuming m-M = 33.9 and foreground exinction of A_r = 0.15).
Images were taken on the two subsequent nights and we found w = 20.3+/- 0.1 and w = 20.4 +/- 0.1 . The transient's lightcurve appears to be flat and not declining. It may be a highly reddened supernova. Spectroscopic classification may be difficult given the location on the bright core of the host UGC00179.
Information on all objects discovered by the "Pan-STARRS search for kilonovae" will be made available at http://star.pst.qub.ac.uk/ps1threepi/. We will release AstroNotes for all these candidates and encourage spectroscopic classification or photometric follow-up. A finder is attached.
These discoveries are a byproduct of the Pan-STARRS NEO survey observations supported by the NASA Grants, including No. NNX14AM74G issued through the SSO Near Earth Object Observations Program.
Catalog | Name | Reported RA | Reported DEC | Reported Obj-Type | Reported Redshift | Host Name | Host Redshift | Remarks | TNS RA | TNS DEC | TNS Obj-Type | TNS Redshift |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
TNS | 2019ser [AT2019ser] | 00:19:00.554 | +23:28:35.76 | 0.016 | 00:19:00.552 | +23:28:35.71 |
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