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 PS20eph (AT2020nvc) in the host galaxy MBG 22012-1550, at a redshift of z = 0.043 or d = 178 Mpc (from NED). The transient was discovered on MJD 59029.52 == 2020-06-29.52 at m_w = 19.80 +/- 0.04. It is offset from the host by 0.3" N, 7.2" W (a projected 6.0 kpc radius from the galaxy centre). At this distance the absolute magnitude is M_w = -16.5 (assuming m-M = 36.25 and foreground extinction of A_r = 0.09). Spectroscopic classification is strongly 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 | 2020nvc [PS20eph] | 22:03:55.829 | -15:35:59.47 | MBG 22012-1550 | 0.0433 | 22:03:55.823 | -15:35:59.43 |


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