Photometric & spectroscopic study of AF And in M31

The data have been taken under the Nainital Microlensing Survey during 1998-2002, and follow-up observations were carried out until 2011. During this period, photometric observations in Cousins R and I bands were obtained for 169 nights spanning about 5000 days.

AF And showed a prominent outburst around 1999 mid-January, followed by a gradual decrease in brightness of about 1.5 mag in the next 3 yr with a declining rate of ~0.0015 mag/day, leading to a quiescent phase at the end of 2001. After lying low for about 9 yr, AF And again went through a secondary outburst phase in late 2010 with an amplitude of 0.44 mag, where it lasted for one year before fading back to its quiescent phase.