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Unraveling the Infrared Transient VVV-WIT-06: The Case for the Origin as a Classical Nova

The enigmatic near-infrared transient VVV-WIT-06 underwent a large-amplitude eruption of unclear origin in 2013 July. Based on its light curve properties and late-time post-outburst spectra, various possibilities have been proposed in the literature for the origin of the object, namely a Type I supernova, a classical nova (CN), or a violent stellar merger event. We show that, of these possibilities, an origin in a CN outburst convincingly explains the observed properties of VVV-WIT-06. We estimate that the absolute K-band magnitude of the nova at maximum was Mk = −8.2 ± 0.5, its distance d = 13.35 ± 2.18 kpc, and the extinction Av = 15.0 ± 0.55 mag.