Things You Can See From Zone 6 - Supernovae

[dick_dangerous]

Hi All,

Quickie session down the park tonight. It was my first in goodness knows how long as life, cloud and rain all conspired to prevent me from getting out up until tonight. I had an available hour so went and set up, not sure what to expect.

After limbering up my eye on M42, I was slightly dismayed by the amount the telescope was vibrating from the wind. Having said this, had some lovely views of the nebula and of Jupiter, between gusts. Of course the main reason for heading out was to find the supernova. I wasn't sure if I'd even be able to see M82, but after a lot of referring to Turn Left at Orion I found a little fuzzy cigar shape in my finder with the larger circle of M81 nearby. I upped the magnification and, with averted vision, there it was - a little twinkly spark that is in reality a star that exploded 12 million years ago with enough force to outshine an entire galaxy. Quite profound, even if a Type 1A supernova is actually slightly more complicated than that.

So you can add Supernova to the list of the things visible from outer London with a small telescope, along with M81 and M82.

DD

[Scooot]

That's great DD. Haven't seen it myself yet but your description - that twinkly spark ...etc explains why we all love this hobby!