May 26/27 2012: Short session with supernova

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

After my mammoth session of May 25/26, I was lucky enough to get another clear view of the skies the next night. My main target was the new supernova in NGC 4424, a mag 11.7 galaxy in Virgo.

After aligning the scope and finder on Vindemiatrix, I did a quick star hop to NGC 4424, and lo and behold a little, elongated, fuzzy patch with a star slightly off centre showed up. Just to make sure I was not seeing the core, I upped the magnification from 65.5x (Nagler 31mm T5) to 169x (12mm Nagler T4), which darkened the sky nicely. SN2012cg showed up very nicely next to the brightest region of the galaxy. Averted vision was required for the best view. I estimate the supernova at about 12.5 (I spotted another, probably more accurate estimate of 12.4 on the latest supernovae page for SN2012cg). It has since brightened to around 12.0-12.2, with a few estimates hitting 11.9 (not visual).

Nearby this galaxy lies NGC 4417, which could be held in a single FOV with NGC 4424. Both galaxies have roughly the same appearance in my scope, with NGC 4417 clearly brighter, but of similar size and shape. NGC 4442 could also be held in the same FOV.

After some abortive attempts at NGC 4380 and NGC 4451, I settled for NGC 4469. This is a mag 11.2 side-on galaxy, which showed up nicely in averted vision.

Quite clearly, the conditions were not as good as the night before, as I was struggling with mag 11.8 galaxies, whereas the previous night I got down to mag 12.7-12.8. The humidity was higher, and a very slight haze made life more difficult. This combined with skies that do not get truly dark this time of year, and a dose of fatigue from last night (important, you look with your brains more than with your eyes) I decided to call it quits. Still very pleased with my 6th supernova, and galaxies #263, #264, and #265, I went to bed quite happy

[Double Kick Drum]

Nights over the last month have not been the same quality as many earlier in the year. I struggled with galaxies the other night too.

Still, three new galaxies and a supernova observation can't be bad.

Thanks for sharing.

[cotterless45]

Nice,made a note that when the rain,cloud and Moon have cleared will get busy.

Thanks for posting, love these SNs.

Nick.