M31N 1926-07c: A Recurrent Nova in M31 with a 2.8 Year Recurrence Time

Abstract

The M31 recurrent nova M31N 1926-07c has had five recorded eruptions. Well-sampled light curves of the two most recent outbursts, in January of 2020 (M31N 2020-01b) and September 2022 (M31N 2022-09a), are presented showing that the photometric evolution of the two events were quite similar, with peak magnitudes of $R=17.2\pm0.1$ and $R=17.1\pm0.1$, and $t_2$ times of $9.7\pm0.9$ and $8.1\pm0.5$ days for the 2020 and 2022 eruptions, respectively. After considering the dates of the four most recent eruptions (where the cycle count is believed to be known), a mean recurrence interval of $\langle P_\mathrm{rec}\rangle=2.78\pm0.03$ years is found, establishing that M31N 1926-07c has one of the shortest recurrence times known.