February 18, 2006: William Liller (Vina del Mar Chile) reports a possible nova at 17:58.9 -36:48 J2000. Its approximate magnitude is 9.0, and was seen on three photos taken near Feb. 17.37UT. Bill Allen (NZ) has taken B and V images that confirm the new object. Inspection of the DSS2 images of this region do not show any bright precursor; any possible faint precursor will require careful astrometry in this crowded field.
Mati Morel has derived a sequence from V=5.7 to V=12.9 based on Tycho2 and ASAS; this will be posted shortly, along with more details.
This special notice was compiled by: A. Henden