An intermediate luminosity transient in NGC 300: The eruption of a dust-enshrouded massive star
We present multi-epoch high-resolution optical spectroscopy, UV/radio/X-ray imaging, and archival Hubble and Spitzer observations of an intermediate luminosity optical transient recently discovered in the nearby galaxy NGC 300. We find that the transient (NGC 300 OT2008-1) has a peak absolute magnitude of M-bol approximate to -11.8 mag, intermediate between novae and supernovae, and similar to the