Novae in M31 are detected quite frequently, and I've tried to catch a few but haven't had any luck until Nova M31 2015-01a (aka MASTER J004207.99+405501.1) erupted a few days ago (see ATel #6911 for the discovery notice). Previous M31 novae I've tried to find were either too faint or buried in brighter parts of the galaxy. This nova, however is well-placed, quite bright (mag ~15.5) and very close to M32, an easy-to-find satellite of M31. ATel 6911 includes a link to images of the field, or I attached an image from my CCD (north is up, east to the left, field width 18'). The last few nights my v-band photometry showed it climbing from 15.8 to 15.4 mag. I'm still waiting for the next M31 supernova to appear - it's been 130 years since S And appeared so we should be coming due.
Shawn Dvorak (DKS)
Florida, USA