SN2014J Fading but still nice

[John]

Lovely seeing conditions just now here although clouds occasionally intervening.

I feel that supernova SN2014j in M82 has faded a wee bit more now. Seems to be around mag 11.3 or so.

I'd be interested in what others who get a peek tonight think 

Jupiter showing fantastic detail again. As the GRS slips around the edge of the disk, the pale eddies in the SEB are beautifully defined  

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

No luck here. Rain for the foreseeable future. Hope others have more luck.

[avtaram]

Wall to wall cloud here.

Avtar

[Kedvenc]

I managed to observe this again last night (20/2/2014) at 23.10 UT. I estimated the magnitude to be closer to 12 (using a 10.0 and 12.2 comparison starts close by) so it may be fading fast (I'm not that confident in my estimation skill yet though).

[cotterless45]

Certainly getting dimmer, not so obvious to catch now,

Nick.

[Moonshane]

Hi John

I think the lack of a moon in the sky when I was observing helped last night. It was quite obvious (for a SN) with both the 12" f4 and 6" f5. I'd agree it's faded a little but is still a great sight if you have not seen it yet.

[rory]

Blimey, what mag was it at its best then ?

I had my first play with my heritage last night and seen it easily at x 26 . Unless of course I got my wires crossed?

[Moonshane]

here's my dodgy sketch http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/206053-bright-supernova-in-m82-mag-117/?p=2188637  if you have dark skies it might be feasible but at its brightes it was dim in my 114mm newt.

[rory]

seems about right to me too shane.  I thought it was almost as bright as the nearby stars.

wanna see my amazing notes / sketch ?

there was no moon at the time but ample l/p about .

[alan potts]

I had the M/N 190 on it two nights ago and it was still very easy to see but my site is darker than most. I would not say it was as bright as the very near by star which I understand is 10.6 mag so for sure it is fading a little. I have been very pleased with this as I have never seen a SN before and I guess M1 don't count.

Alan

[Mark at Beaufort]

Last night the National Trust (Berrington Hall, nr Leominster) organised a BBC Stargazing Live event with Herefordshire Astro Society providing the scopes and expertise.

I showed so many members of the public both M81 and M82 and described the position of the SN. Everyone young and old were pleased to say that they had seen the SN.

Berrington Hall is a very good dark site and I estimated that the SN was fainter than the 11.1 mag star nearby.

[lunator]

Mark, managed a quick look tonight before the cloud and rain rolled in and the SN looked fainter than mag 11

Cheers

Ian

Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

[John]

....... I estimated that the SN was fainter than the 11.1 mag star nearby.

I caught it again last night with my ED120 and I'd agree entirely with that estimate Mark. 

[John]

Dodgy conditions this evening with highly mobile clouds around but I managed a quick peek at SN2014J just now and it's faded further. I reckon around mag 12 now ?. It's going to drop out of reach of smaller scopes soon I reckon. I was using my 12" dob and it was not too hard to find but did not jump out as it did in it's heyday.

[Mark at Beaufort]

John I have the 10" Dob out the moment. Lots of mobile clouds as you state. I want to try the 6mm and 9mm Hutech on M82 set against the 10mm Delos and 8mm Ethos as a comparison. Report later hopefully.

[John]

John I have the 10" Dob out the moment. Lots of mobile clouds as you state. I want to try the 6mm and 9mm Hutech on M82 set against the 10mm Delos and 8mm Ethos as a comparison. Report later hopefully.

Very interesting range of eyepieces to use there Mark. I'll look forward to your report 

[Mark at Beaufort]

Well that was an interesting viewing period. I used 5 different EPs to view the SN all in the 10" Dob. I used the 8mm Ethos, 10mm Delos, 9mm Hutech, 6mm Hutech and the 8-24mm Baader zoom with Baader special barlow giving 10.5mm at lowest setting.

I looked at 4 different stars nearby 10.6, 11.1, 12.1 and 13.2 - in my view the SN compared well with the 12.1 star. In fact it was very marginally brighter so I would say about mag 12.0.

The most satisfying view was with the 8mm Ethos followed by the 10mm Delos. However, I was only able to view the 13.5 mag star between the 10.0 and 10.6 with the Hutech EPs. I thought that this was interesting and good for viewing very faint DSOs in the future. Not bad these Orthoscopic eyepieces.

The Baader Hyperion zoom was also very good but the contrast and sharpness was better in the Televues.

So the SN is going fainter so will become difficult over the coming weeks.

[John]

Well that was an interesting viewing period. I used 5 different EPs to view the SN all in the 10" Dob. I used the 8mm Ethos, 10mm Delos, 9mm Hutech, 6mm Hutech and the 8-24mm Baader zoom with Baader special barlow giving 10.5mm at lowest setting.

I looked at 4 different stars nearby 10.6, 11.1, 12.1 and 13.2 - in my view the SN compared well with the 12.1 star. In fact it was very marginally brighter so I would say about mag 12.0.

The most satisfying view was with the 8mm Ethos followed by the 10mm Delos. However, I was only able to view the 13.5 mag star between the 10.0 and 10.6 with the Hutech EPs. I thought that this was interesting and good for viewing very faint DSOs in the future. Not bad these Orthoscopic eyepieces.

The Baader Hyperion zoom was also very good but the contrast and sharpness was better in the Televues.

So the SN is going fainter so will become difficult over the coming weeks.

Nice report Mark 

We seem to agree on the SN brightness.

I'm glad you are finding the orthos rewarding. It's quite tempting to have a short set of those as well as the wide angles as, when the chips are down, they do deliver the goods 

Too many nice things to spend money on in this hobby ! 

[deepspacehunter]

We saw the SN about amonth ago with the 10" PARKS REFLECTOR.. and I saw it again last week FEB 18th with the C11.. It was still plainly visible, but it is getting dimmer...