High Cadence Millimagnitude Photometric Observations of V1112 Persei (Nova Per 2020)

TL;DR

This study presents high-cadence, precise photometric observations of nova V1112 Persei over 80 days, revealing its brightness decline and periodic variability, enhancing the observational dataset for this nova.

Contribution

The paper provides detailed high-cadence photometry of V1112 Persei, capturing short-term variability and combining data with AAVSO observations for comprehensive analysis.

Findings

Detected brightness decline of the nova.

Identified a periodic variability of approximately 0.608 days.

Achieved photometric precision better than 5 mmag.

Abstract

The private Lookout Observatory (LO) monitored the classic nova V1112 Persei on 37 nights spanning over 80 days, beginning shortly after its discovery by Seiji Ueda on 25 Nov 2020. Images were captured at a high cadence, with exposure lengths of initially less than 2 seconds and with some sessions lasting more than ten hours. The standard error of the photometry was typically better than 5 thousandths of a magnitude (5 mmag). This cadence and precision allowed for not only the observation of the expected dimming of the nova, but also variability having a period of 0.608 +- 0.005 days. This data compliments the publicly available photometry from the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) and the resultant data is combined to perform this photometric analysis. This paper does not attempt an in-depth physical analysis of the nova from an astrophysical perspective.