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 PS20eok (AT2020nrx) in the host galaxy GSG 039, at a redshift of z = 0.037 or d = 156 Mpc (from NED). The transient was discovered on MJD 59027.52 == 2020-06-27.52 at m_w = 20.80 +/- 0.13. It is offset from the host by 9.5" S, 9.6" E (a projected 10.6 kpc radius from the galaxy centre). At this distance the absolute magnitude is M_w = -15.3 (assuming m-M = 35.97 and foreground extinction of A_r = 0.17). Spectroscopic classification is encouraged.
We will release AstroNotes for all these candidates and encourage spectroscopic classification or photometric follow-up. A finder is attached.
The discoveries from this program are a byproduct of the Pan-STARRS NEO survey observations. Operation of the Pan-STARRS1 and Pan-STARRS2 telescopes is primarily supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Grant No. NNX12AR65G and Grant No. NNX14AM74G issued through the SSO Near-Earth Object Observations Program. Data are processed at Queen's University Belfast enabled through the STFC grants ST/P000312/1 and ST/T000198/1.
| 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 | 2020nrx [PS20eok] | 21:05:21.105 | -25:34:08.96 | GSG 039 | 0.037473 | 21:05:21.105 | -25:34:08.96 |


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