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W.B. Sparks, H. Ferguson, R. Jedrzejewski, F.D. Macchetto, J. Biretta, M. Livio (STScI)
We have found a suprising number of transient point sources in the elliptical galaxy M87 during our program to measure, with the HST/FOC, the proper motion of the optical jet. Observations at six different epochs and with a field of view of approximately 100 square arcsec, revealed at least eleven transient sources, each visible within a single epoch but absent in the remaining epochs. They are seen easily at wavelengths close to 340 nm where we obtain excellent discrimination between the sources and the underlying old, red stellar population in this galaxy. The newly discovered transient sources display a variety of remarkable properties: one is brighter than any of the 142 novae in the catalogue of novae in M31; others are very close to, but not quite within, the jet. We discuss the possibility that these sources are either classical novae, or are somehow related to the AGN and the jet and its interaction with the local ISM.