A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Archival Gravitational-Wave Optical Transient Observer Photometry and Zwicky Transient Facility Localization of Galactic Novae: Quiescent Constraints and Improved Coordinates




AuthorsKhamrat, Sutharut; Surina, Farung; Noysena, Kanthanakorn; Ackley, Kendall; Dyer, Martin J.; Lyman, Joe; Ulaczyk, Krzysztof; Belkin, Sergey; Galloway, Duncan K.; Dhillon, Vik S.; O'brien, Paul; Ramsay, Gavin; Kotak, Rubina; Breton, Rene P.; Nuttall, Laura K.; Gompertz, Ben; Casares, Jorge; Chote, Paul; Chrimes, Ashley; Coppejans, Deanne; Eyles-Ferris, Rob; Godson, Ben; Jarvis, Dan; Kelsey, Lisa; Kennedy, Mark; Killestein, Tom; Levan, Andrew; Mandhai, Soheb; Mattila, Seppo; Pu, Kangming; Sahu, Anwesha; Stanway, Elizabeth; Starling, Rhaana; Sun, Yuzhu; on behalf of the GOTO Team

PublisherMDPI AG

Publication year2026

Journal: Universe

Article number53

Volume12

Issue2

eISSN2218-1997

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.3390/universe12020053

Publication's open availability at the time of reportingOpen Access

Publication channel's open availability Open Access publication channel

Web address https://doi.org/10.3390/universe12020053

Self-archived copy’s web addresshttps://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/515907177

Self-archived copy's licenceCC BY

Self-archived copy's versionPublisher`s PDF


Abstract

We present archival photometry from the Gravitational-wave Optical Transient Observer (GOTO) for four Galactic novae discovered between 2017 and 2024, spanning some of the faintest ZTF24aaomlxy and PGIR22akgylf (at a marginal near-limit level consistent with the practical limiting magnitude of calibrated L to the brightest V1405 Cas and V1674 Her recent eruptions. For each object, we extract GOTO measurements obtained at or near the pre-eruption state, excluding data points with observational uncertainties exceeding 0.5 mag (except for the faintest PGIR22akgylf). The resulting light curves show that GOTO can detect nova progenitors close to its observable limiting depth at calibrated L magnitudes approaching the survey's practical limiting magnitude, providing meaningful constraints on quiescent brightness, possibly for systems that were only sparsely monitored using surveys such as ZTF and PGIR. These detections demonstrate that wide-field imaging originally designed for gravitational-wave follow-up can yield meaningful limits on both faint and fast-evolving nova progenitors. Simultaneously, we improve the sky positions of five Galactic novae-ZTF24aaomlxy, V3732 Oph, V2000 Aql, V3666 Oph, and V659 Sct-whose published coordinates are affected by crowding or limited precision. Using high-cadence photometry from ZTF and AAVSO, we identify the actual eruption source in each field and obtain revised coordinates that differ by several arcseconds. These findings highlight the importance of time-domain archives for identifying faint nova progenitors and improving astrometric accuracy across the Galactic nova population.


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Funding information in the publication
This research received no external funding.


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