Double treat today! The nova in Sagittarius and a double eclipse on Jupiter!

[adarshajoisa]

I woke up at around 2:30 am in the morning, and couldn't sleep, so I went outside and set up my scope. The transparency was horrible - mag 3 skies at best, but I was able to spot the nova in Sagittarius. I heard it dropped to about mag 5 today. It was a fairly obvious bright yellow star in the FOV. The first time I'm observing a nova!!! Now that is something! To actually see a thermonuclear explosion on some very distant white dwarf!  I ended the session taking a quick peek at Saturn and Titan. The Cassini division was visible, but none of the other moons were visible, owing to the horrible transparency. 

In the evening, I set up my telescope early to let it cool down for plenty of time. At 7:24 PM local time, Io started leaving the shadow of Jupiter. It started as a very faint dot, barely visible with averted vision, and quickly grew very bright and obvious in a couple of minutes! At the same time, Ganymede was transiting, and the shadow was clearly visible as a tiny circle on the other side of Jupiter. All this time, the GRS was almost right in the center, close to the meridian. The seeing was exceptionally good, and I was able to use 200x easily throughout the session. I've been waiting for this for over a week now, to see GRS, Ganymede's shadow on Jupiter, and Io leaving Jupiter's shadow, all at the same time!!  This was by far one of the best sessions I had (the other being the night a couple of weeks ago when I couldn't sleep and ended up having a mini Messier marathon! )

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Congrats on that nova. No luck here (rather low in the sky). The dance of Jupiter's moons is always great to watch, isn't it?

[happy-kat]

Wow to seeing the nova

[adarshajoisa]

Congrats on that nova. No luck here (rather low in the sky). The dance of Jupiter's moons is always great to watch, isn't it?

Thanks, Michael! Yes, I always try to catch eclipses on Jupiter whenever weather permits. I never get tired of seeing the shadows move across another planet millions of miles away! 

[alan potts]

First I have heard of a nova anywhere other than the neighbours car. I was up at 2.40 myself and saw a clear sky but could not get rid of the bed anchor on my right foot.

Alan

[astromackem]

I woke up at around 2:30 am in the morning, and couldn't sleep, so I went outside and set up my scope. The transparency was horrible - mag 3 skies at best, but I was able to spot the nova in Sagittarius. I heard it dropped to about mag 5 today. It was a fairly obvious bright yellow star in the FOV. The first time I'm observing a nova!!! Now that is something! To actually see a thermonuclear explosion on some very distant white dwarf!  I ended the session taking a quick peek at Saturn and Titan. The Cassini division was visible, but none of the other moons were visible, owing to the horrible transparency. 

In the evening, I set up my telescope early to let it cool down for plenty of time. At 7:24 PM local time, Io started leaving the shadow of Jupiter. It started as a very faint dot, barely visible with averted vision, and quickly grew very bright and obvious in a couple of minutes! At the same time, Ganymede was transiting, and the shadow was clearly visible as a tiny circle on the other side of Jupiter. All this time, the GRS was almost right in the center, close to the meridian. The seeing was exceptionally good, and I was able to use 200x easily throughout the session. I've been waiting for this for over a week now, to see GRS, Ganymede's shadow on Jupiter, and Io leaving Jupiter's shadow, all at the same time!!  This was by far one of the best sessions I had (the other being the night a couple of weeks ago when I couldn't sleep and ended up having a mini Messier marathon! )

Congrats on that. Brilliant.

How do you find out when Novas are going to happen?

[adarshajoisa]

Congrats on that. Brilliant.

How do you find out when Novas are going to happen?

You can't really predict when Novas are going to happen, but if you're lucky, whenever one pops up, and the weather permits, you'll be able to catch it. I read about the Sagittarius Nova soon after it happened, but it was too dim, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to locate it in my light polluted skies. But in a couple of days, it brightened a lot, soon it became the brightest object in the teapot. So, the next day I set out to find it and it was fairly obvious by then. I've heard that it's about mag 5 right now, so if you have clear skies, perhaps you could try catching it.

[cotterless45]

For those lucky enough to have

Clear skies, Nick.

http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/observing-news/6th-mag-nova-in-sagittarius-still-brightening/