Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope

Fermi ToO 080605-1-1

A ToO observation to observe OGLE-2016-NOVA-02 at RA, Dec = 262.4900, -19.2400 (J2000) was approved at 2016-07-18 14:53:37 UTC.

The justification for the ToO is: A new nova, OGLE-2016-NOVA-02, has been discovered by the OGLE survey in the Galactic bulge. It was announced in ATel 9246 and confirmed as a nova in ATel 9250. On July 15.3 UT, it had a brightness, I~13.7 mag and appears to be highly reddened. The emission lines show that it is moderately fast, with FWHM ~ 2100 km/s, comparable to other Fermi-detected novae. This nova is an excellent example of the sort of faint, early detection possible with modern surveys like OGLE and ASAS-SN (while these survey have been around for a while, they have only recently begun focusing on novae). We are seeking to understand why some novae show gamma-rays while others do not. Deep limits from Fermi on all Galactic novae (~10 per year, on average) is crucial to answering this question.

The planned duration is 430.00 ks.

The autonomous request threshold during this ToO is LOW.

The ToO observation should begin between 2016-07-18 14:53:36 UTC and 2016-07-25 14:53:36 UTC.

The ToO observation was requested by PROF. LAURA CHOMIUK.