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Title:
A Systematic Search for Naked-Eye Astronomical Optical Transients Lasting Minutes
Authors:
Nemiroff, Robert J.; Shamir, L.
Affiliation:
AA(Michigan Technological University), AB(NIH)
Publication:
American Astronomical Society, AAS Meeting #211, #132.18; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.964
Publication Date:
12/2007
Origin:
AAS
Bibliographic Code:
2007AAS...21113218N

Abstract

How often do bright optical transients occur on the sky but go unreported? Anecdotal evidence of these is not uncommon, yet few have been discussed in the literature. Possible progenitor objects include supernovae, novae, highly variable stars, optical counterparts to gamma-ray bursts, massive stellar flares, and even extremely bright microlensing events. To search for such transients and constrain the bright end of the astronomical transient function, a systematic search for bright transients was conducted using the fisheye continuous cameras (CONCAMs) of the Night Sky Live network. Two fisheye cameras operating most clear nights over three years searched for transients that appeared in time-contiguous three-minute CCD frames. A single candidate transient was found, the possible nature of which was discussed elsewhere (Shamir and Nemiroff 2006, PASP, 118, 1108). The data are used here to deduce upper limits to the frequency of bright transients on the time scales of minutes to days. In sum, at the short duration end, the number of transients on the sky brighter than visual magnitude $\sim$5.5 at any one time, lasting between 8 minute and four hours, is less than 0.002.
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