Discovery of an intermediate-luminosity red transient in M51 and its likely dust-obscured, infrared-variable progenitor

Jacob E. Jencson, Scott M. Adams, Howard E. Bond +49

We present the discovery of an optical transient (OT) in Messier 51, designated M51 OT2019-1 (also ZTF19aadyppr, AT 2019abn, ATLAS19bzl), by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF). Th…